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10A Daily News – Saturday, April 7, 2012 healthPetsactivities & Who gets the dog when couples split? MINNEAPOLIS (MCT) — When couples break up, fighting over flatscreens and wine col- lections is part of the process. But who gets the dog? Pet-custody issues fig- ure into divorce more often now than even one generation ago. In a 2006 survey of the 1,600-mem- ber American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, nearly 25 percent of them reported noticing an increase in cases involving pets. of how societal attitudes toward animal compan- ions have evolved: Our dogs and cats have moved from being considered extensions of the family to being part of the inner cir- cle. It's a natural outgrowth MCT photo "Forty years ago, peo- ple were attached to their pets, but they weren't con- sidered members of the family in the way they are now," said Chris Johnson, a family-law attorney with the Minneapolis firm Best & Flanagan. Yet in the eyes of the Michael Abata holds his dog Jake, a 10-year-old Jack Russell terrier, across the street for his home in Minneapolis, Minn., Saturday, March 31. Abata and his ex have worked out shared cus- tody of Jake. law, your little Precious Paws is no different than that flatscreen — he's a piece of property that will be awarded to one side or the other, unless a shared- custody arrangement is made. "The law sees them as chattel, a piece of house- hold goods, but people care so much about their pets that they're often will- ing to pay a huge amount to get them," said attorney Cathy Gorlin, also of Best & Flanagan. "People will cede $20,000 to a spouse, plus attorney fees, for a pet that could have been replaced for $500." But monetary value of a beloved animal is rarely the issue. Gorlin recalls a couple of cases that illus- trate the wide variety of paths pet custody cases can take. issues about whether the dog was purchased by one party before or after the marriage, and whether it was a gift, because if a gift is given after marriage, it's marital property. Mom ended up paying Dad $15,000 to keep the dog, and it wasn't a young dog." People involved in a breakup can also use pets as tools of revenge. In one, all the other sep- aration of property was simple, but who got the Yorkie was a giant T-bone of contention. "There were dog was used for breeding, Mom was so mad at Dad that while the dog was staying with her, she had it spayed," Gorlin said. Sometimes, breakups "In one case where the can actually benefit pets. Take Jake the Jack Russell terrier, who divides his time between Michael Abata of Minneapolis, who does consumer research for Target, and his ex, John Peterson, an engi- neer. The two got Jake from a rescue organization in 2006, then decided to go their separate ways a year later. Jake has been shut- tling between the two for the past four years, accord- ing to the schedule on his very own Google calendar. "Jack Russells really need a lot of stimulation, so it keeps things more interesting for him," said Abata. "Plus it's good for us, because we can travel and go out more when the other one has him. Some people are actually jealous of it." Of course, that kind of arrangement depends on amicability between exes, which is not always possi- ble. Getting the 200-pound swine to the vet is another thing By Jeff Kahler, D.V.M. McClatchy Newspapers Penelope is a 3-year-old pot-bellied pig. These creatures generally weigh under 50 or 60 pounds as adults, but Pene- lope tips the scale in the neighborhood of 200 pounds. More on that later. The pressing issue with Penelope involves her skin. Apparently, the skin has become very itchy. According to Pam, Penelope's owner, the pot-bellied pig spends most of her waking hours scratching. She has a very large yard in which to roam and has found every suitable object in it to aggressively rub herself against. Her skin is to the point now of developing superficial ulcerations and bleeding. There are many remedies to stop pruritus, but the real solution lies in finding out the underlying cause. Penelope needs to see her doctor. This sounds simple, Marshall Tanick, Gor- lin's husband, is a Min- neapolis attorney who spe- cializes in animal law. He has written about pet cus- tody for dog magazines. "About 40 percent of households have pets, and 50 percent of marriages end in divorce, so it's fair to say that pet custody is potentially an issue in about 20 percent of house- holds," he said. Ninety percent of cases involve dogs, 5 percent cats and 5 percent "other" — a cate- gory that can get bizarre, such as a couple who had 30 ornate birds. "We had to divide them in half, by bird type, to make sure everything was equal," Tanick said. Family-law attorney Joani Moberg said that while the law is far behind cultural mores when it comes to pets being seen as members of the family, it's not likely to change soon. 1921 ~ 2012 APRIL 20, 21, 22, 2012 visit us at: www.redbluffroundup.com also on facebook (530) 527-1000 • 1-800-545-3500 SATURDAY ROUND- UP EVENTS NEW START TIME FOR 2:30 PM "Given the paucity of court resources as it is, judges are loath to have court time be taken up with something like this when they have 100 child support cases on the dock- et," she said. "If you say one of the couple's issues is pet custody, they might even laugh at you." but there is the logistical challenge of getting her to the vet- erinarian. Remember, Penelope weighs some 200 pounds and is unlikely to want to, or is capable of, making the jump into Pam's car for a trip to the veterinarian. That said, Pam and Chris may have to borrow a horse trailer or some other trailer with high walls to transport Penelope. Pot-bellied pigs can be a handful to work with when they are normal size, and Penelope will likely compound that issue. They can be quite stubborn and very, very loud when addressed in a fashion they do not approve of. There is no truer cliche than "squeals like a stuck pig." This does not prevent us from helping her, though. Once in the veterinary hospital, Penelope will need a scraping of the pruritic skin to be examined under a micro- scope. One of the most intensely pruritic diseases I have seen in pot-bellied pigs is a mange process caused by sarcoptes mange mites. These are tiny arachnids, a group of bugs that includes spiders and ticks, among others, that burrow into the skin and set up shop. The burrowing and subsequent development of a community of mites causes an intense inflammatory process that leads to intense pruritus. Mange is easy to treat. A series of injections spaced two weeks apart will kill the sarcoptes mites. Incidentally, we see this group of mites in many different species of com- panions, even humans. If the skin scraping is not definite for mites, a skin biop- sy is needed. This procedure involves harvesting of skin samples. The specimens are sent to a pathologist to exam- ine for an underlying disease process. Sarcoptes mange mites burrow deeply into the skin, so they can be seen in a biopsy sample and not a skin scraping sample. One last comment on a remark I made earlier concern- ing Penelope's weight: It is very common to find huge pot- bellied pigs. There are two main reasons for this. First, a piglet can be passed off as a pot-bellied pig when it is very young, and later become somewhat enormous. This is because it was not a purebred pot-bellied pig. The second cause for "huge pot-bellied pig syndrome" involves massive overfeeding by the caretakers. This problem, of course, is not limited to pigs. Jeff Kahler is a veterinarian in Modesto. Questions can be submitted to Your Pet in care of LifeStyles, The Modesto Bee, P.O. Box 5256, Modesto CA 95352. Animal Island: How to keep Pet custody is often more contentious when there are no children in the family, "because the pets are the kids," she said. "People should think about what's the best for the dog," said Molly Feeney, a dog trainer who splits her time between Minnesota and Califor- nia. "Where will it get the most companionship? Will it be with the origi- nal owner, but be alone 20 hours a day? If you're arguing over a TV, well, one person can just go out and get a new one. But people know that ani- mals are close to the heart, and it hurts the most." Photo by Larry Smith AMERICA'S ORIGINAL EXTREME SPORT! RODEO GREAT SEATS STILL AVAILABLE CALL NOW!!! FRIDAY FAMILY 4 PACK $30 Feeney says she hears more about pet custody battles on the West Coast, where at least one dog lover has made a career out of mediating them. "When a person calls bush right by our back door. We could not use our back- yard at all for two months, between the noise of the babies being fed and the mad rushes and the dive bombs that the parents did to us whenever we went out. Is there anything we can do to prevent them from doing it this year? We do not want to cut down the bush. A: The best thing to use to keep birds out of the ilex is the commercial bird netting that growers of berries cover their bushes with to keep the birds from eating the fruit. You can order the netting from just about any seed catalog that sells these bushes. You have to hurry. If the birds do build a nest — and bird families out of the bush By Marc Morrone Newsday (MCT) Q: Last summer, a mockingbird built a nest in an ilex they will any day now — then it is not legal for you to remove or disturb the nest of any bird native to North America. If birds do build in one of the other parts of your yard and dive bomb you, try holding an umbrella over your head to keep them at bay. Q: We have a polydactyl cat that has extra toes on all her feet. We have tried to trim those nails ourselves many times and failed miserably — to the point of hav- ing to go to the ER to get our hands stitched up. So we have resigned ourselves to taking her to the vet period- ically to get those nails trimmed. However, every time we take out the cat carrier, she hides under the bed, and then it is another reality show to get her out and into the carrier. If we got a different carrier, do you think that would help? A: It is not the type of carrier that gets her upset — it's just the things that consistently happen to her when she sees it that alarm her. me, I never ask about the relationship with the human partner, I focus on the dog or cat," said Charles Regal of San Francisco, whose consul- tancy is called Regal Pet- Centric Mediation. "When everything is cen- tered on the animal, they often temporarily lift themselves up and outside of their differences and see it as one last good thing they can do togeth- er, for their pet." their own volition when they realize that it does not always mean that something bad will happen. Just take out the carrier, remove the door and leave it in plain sight in the living room or kitchen. Of course, she will give it a wide berth for a few weeks, but then she will soon come to ignore it. When that happens, you can start to put in a dish of deli chicken or some other treat that she likes, and she will soon be going into it on her own volition. All animals can be taught to go inside a carrier on After she seems comfortable, you can put her in the carrier and go for a ride in the car around the block a few times. She will soon realize that going in the carri- er does not always mean a trip to the vet. The visits to get her nails trimmed just become an unavoidable random event in her life, and animals can handle random events much better than we think they can. 91ST