Firehall Fest a Smashing Sunfilled Success - Old Ottawa South

Page 32
Local Veterinarian - Dr. Emily Black
The OSCAR - OUR 36 th YEAR
The Details Are In The Eyebrows…
Always In The Eyebrows
By Emily Black
Some of the best conversations I
have in a day are with my pets.
I know this sounds funny and
I realize that, for the most part, I’m
probably just talking to myself but if
this is the case then I am one of the
most interesting conversationalists
I’ve ever met. The truth is I am talking
to my pets and they are talking back the
best they can, not so much in words,
although the three legged cat generally
has something to meow about, but
more in deed and understanding. In
my mind this is one of the principle
reasons we own pets.
We had a lady come into the
hospital yesterday who had lost her
two feline companions of 14 years,
and tears came to her eyes when she
talked about them and then suddenly
she perked right up and told us that her
friend’s cat had just had kittens and
her friend said she could have two and
now she would have someone to get
excited with about the pizza delivery.
And that about sums it up; our pets
are living beings we can share things
with, including pizza.
In this article I’d like to go over
some of the ways that our animals
communicate with us, a bit of a
translation session really to help your
pet better connect. So, let us start with
Dogs. Tail wagging Happy, Tail still
Sad – Just joking, dogs are far more
deep than simply a tail wag but the old
adage that a dog wags its tail with its
heart holds true. Most of a dog’s subtle
expressions are based in their eyes.
You can have a great conversation
with a dog based on eyebrows alone.
Dog were originally pack animals,
and have developed a complicated
scheme of eyebrow movements to
convey intention and desire. If a dog
wants you to do something they will
continue facing you but will look in
the direction of the desired object
with their eyes, they then look back
to you to make sure you got it… then
repeat until you get it. By example
“there is a lovely piece of toast on
the table.. over there (eyes shift to the
table then back)… on the table (eyes
shift again)… it looks yummy (eyes
again).” This is a very effective form
of communication and of guilt which
in the end always gets you the toast.
Another interesting feature of dogs,
mostly designed I’m sure to throw their
humans off, is blinking and yawning.
Both are features of attentiveness.
Blinking, as with humans, shows they
are thinking and listening to you. This
behaviour encorporates both a reflex
and a sign of submission; the dominant
and therefore “not listening” dog tends
to try and stare you down. Yawning in
dog language is a way to break tension;
they yawn when they are taking the
time to think about something. They
also yawn when they are tired. So it’s
best not to rely on this, and to wait for
written verification.
Now Cats. My favorite cat
behaviour is the kiss. Cats kiss
with their eyes, a long languid blink
directed at their sweetheart. The
great thing about this is that you can
blink back and they get it! I use this
a lot in my exam rooms where, when
I meet a cat for the first time, things
could go either way, I could be friend
or foe. Usually I find these guys are
blinking their little hearts out trying
to tell anyone that will look that they
are friendly and love anyone, but
that they are terrified. One nice long
blink on my part and, what do you
know, we have established a clear
communication and we are fast friends
from there on in. Often times the blink
is preceded by the chin nod where a
cat will nod with its head leading with
its chin. This is an excited welcome
greeting showing you that they are
just so happy you’ve come. Another
/CNW/ -
JUL/AUG 2008
welcoming behaviour is the stretch
and scratch… be it on the couch or on
the stairs or even the carpet. Cats will
do this when you come into a room
or into the house and it is actually a
welcome greeting. They are showing
you how lovely and long they are and
pointing out very subtly how lucky
you are to have a wonderful long cat
like them. This can be used for best
advantage by placing a scratching
post by your front door. It’s there
when they need it and they get used to
being allowed to scratch there.
Dr Emily Black is a small animal
veterinarian who grew up in Old
Ottawa South, trained at the Atlantic
Veterinary College and now lives in
the Glebe. She owns and operates
Centretown Veterinary Hospital and
is herself owned by a 13 year old dog
and two cats.
Reducing Electricity Use
With the hot weather approaching and air conditioners getting
revved up, Ontario is heading towards a peak energy demand
period. But there are lots of things individual Ontarians can do
to reduce their electricity consumption during the dog days of summer.
Did You Know...
• An average Ontario household consumes around 1,000 kilowatthours
each month
• On average, 60 per cent of a yearly electricity bill goes toward
heating and cooling the home.
• Home appliances make up roughly 18 per cent of household
electricity consumption.
• In a typical home, 20 per cent of household energy costs are created
by hot water, and the average household does 37 loads of laundry per
month, using 6,817 litres of water.
Ontario needs to reduce its peak demand by 6,300 megawatts by 2025
- that is the equivalent to taking one in five electricity consumers off the
grid!
One kilowatt hour is the amount of electricity required to keep a 100watt
bulb lit for ten hours. The average Ontario house-hold uses about
1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per month.
Every kilowatt-hour saved through conservation prevents two pounds
of carbon dioxide (CO2) from reaching the atmosphere.
A two-degree adjustment to your thermostat setting can lower heating
bills by four per cent and prevent 500 pounds of CO2 from entering the
atmosphere each year.