Pets in Italy

Take A Break!

Pets tune into your mood and the longer you live with them the more sensitive this psychic relationship becomes.

I know tests have been done showing that people’s blood pressure drops when their pet enters the room (not too much obviously or we’d all be keeling over every time Rover makes an appearance) and that pets are good for stress in general. It would be interesting to see the reverse side of this and to discover what effect seeing their owner has on stressed pets. My guess would be it has a physiological effect as well as a psychological one.

My dogs understand my work pattern and after our morning walk and I’ve fed them they know that I work until lunchtime in the office. They hardly ever hassle me and just get on with whatever it is they do (in Lab ZsaZsa’s case some serious sleeping). After lunch they know that it is time to go into the garden for an hour or so before I begin work again. I usually stop between six and half past in the evening.

But if I decide to forego my breaks to meet a deadline or work beyond my usual times, then one or both dogs, but particularly Maia the younger one, will come into the office. She sits and stares at me and if that fails to get my attention she comes over and gives me a paw. As it’s hard to concentrate with a hairy paw in your lap, I turn and give her some fuss. Thus she has achieved her objective which I am sure is to make me take a break, or better still, stop work for the day.

The cats too know how to tell me enough is enough. Our dear departed black moggie Widget used to plonk herself on the desk in front of the computer screen when she was trying to tell me I'd worked for too long. Young kitten Jimmy now follows suit and apart from blocking the screen also plays with my iPod wires until I give in and give up!

I am a firm believer in not sitting in front of a computer for hours. Bad for your mind, body and spirit. But once you are ‘in the zone’ it’s easy to lose track of time and my little four-legged alarm clocks are there to ensure that I look after myself as well as looking after them.

Two Puppies Urgently Needing Homes - Central North Italy

Two five-month old puppies, located in Tivoli and looking for a good home. The lady who originally posted the appeal is expecting a baby in the next couple of weeks and is desperate to find the pups a loving owner. As far as I understand they are not her dogs but she is trying to rehome them. They have been shut in a cage all day and night for two months with no-one to pay them any attention, give them cuddles or take them for a walk. She hasn't had one call enquiring about them and is now quite desperate.

This is Gio (pronounced Joe more or less)the male puppy. Isn't he absolutely adorable?     How could you leave him locked up all day? He has been vaccinated, microchipped and will be registered to the new owner free of charge. He is not too good on the lead but that's because he's never been out. He loves playing and is and with other dogs. He likes people - both adults and children. He's just five months old, still a baby. He'll be medium size when he grows up.

This is his sister Louise - they look quite different don't they but she is lovely too and obviously the same applies to her - vaccinated, microchipped and registered to the new owner free of charge. All they ask is that she is neutered when she is 7 months old. She loves walks too, although like her brother isn't used to a lead yet. She is affectionate and loves people and kids.

If you can offer them a home them please phone Emanuela 339/7800992 or email emi78.ei@libero.it

Dogs For Adoption in Arezzo Province Tuscany

 It breaks my heart every time I see an appeal for a dog needing a home. There are so many out there and sadly with the credit crunch more are arriving every day in increasingly crowded kennels.

Anyway, bearing in mind that even one dog adopted is better than none and that you have to start somewhere, I am posting these photos from the canile at Lucignano, Arezzo Province.

They are all under two years old and Ilaria from the dog home tells me they were left at the shelter by their owners with various "excuses".

If you have a big heart and are looking for a dog, then how about giving one of these a home? Contact Ilaria on 347-7599430

 

  Young alsation female looking for a new home. Lovely looking dog.





 
   Who could resist this one? I almost cried when I saw this photo!

   This little female alsation is just eight months old. Look at those ears.

   I could be wrong but this looks very much like a springer spaniel to me.

  These are great aren't they? All they want is a loving owner.

        We had a volpino once and this looks just like him. Look at those eyes.    

Home Sweet (Wet) Home

Well, I arrived back home last night having spent all of yesterday travelling. I forgot when I booked that it was a bank holiday in Italy and so several trains were cancelled. Having landed at 2.30pm it then took me six hours to travel from Pisa to the Casentino. Unbelievable.

Although I had a fantastic time in England, it was lovely to see Alan and the animals again and I got a great welcome. I took the dogs on a long walk this morning and together we explored the woods to see what has changed in the two weeks since I’ve been away.

One thing – it’s pouring, in fact the weather has been very wet while I’ve been enjoying sunshine in Bournemouth! The garden is very lush and green, there are loads of flowers out and lots of my vegetables are now making an appearance, including my first crop of potatoes. The orto needs weeding and the grass needs cutting but that will have to wait until I feel less knackered and the rain has stopped!

While in the woods I noticed that there were quite a few wild orchids in flower, not sure what type but they are quite tall and speckled purple. I knew they were orchids as they looked like little men. I did think they would look pretty good in my own garden, but then on returning from the walk I realised I have got one of my very own growing in the middle of the drive! In fact, all kinds of plants have been springing up in very unusual places. There are tons of strawberry plants under trees as well as peonies in bud where there weren’t any last year.

I think the appearance of all this gorgeous stuff is a combination of birds feeding and then depositing seeds, the wet weather we have had all winter and, last but not least, my absolute avoidance of any pesticides or chemicals. The previous owner used quite a lot I think as we found large containers of all kinds of noxious stuff at the back of the garage when we moved in. It was all safely disposed of and now, three years on, I like to feel the garden has recovered and things are a bit more natural and organic. Which is good for the plants and of course the animals, birds and insects too.

Daft About Donkeys

I'm staying with my Mum in the UK for a week and have left the menagerie in Alan's capable hands while I spoil my mother's Yorkie and tabby cat for a while!

I usually get a lot of reading in when at my Mum's house and I'm reading a fantastic book at the moment that I thoroughly recommend, Andy Merrifield's The Wisdom of Donkeys. I have always had a hankering for a donkey or two and this feeling was reinforced when I wrote a feature on miniature Sardinian donkeys a few years back while editor of Italy magazine.

The famous Donkey Santuary in Sidmouth has worked since 2004 helping to rescue donkeys in Italy and there is now a new sanctuary Il Rifugio Degli Asinelli which is working to help these gentle creatures. Incredibly and horribly, many donkeys in Italy are destined to be eaten as salami and are imported from abroad including Romania. The Rifugio already has 70 donkeys and hopes to be able to take in over 250 in new accommodation. They are a registered charity and if you pay Italian income tax you can pledge your 5/1000 to them. Ask your accountant how to do this.

In the meantime if you hear of any donkeys needing a home  - let me know!

Petition for Carapax

I received this plea by email a couple of days ago. I must admit I hadn't heard of Carapax before, but they seem to be doing good work for turtles, tortoises and other animals and from what I read on their website they seem to have been treated quite unjustly by their local comune.

Here is the plea in Italian and English (their translation).

IL CENTRO CARAPAX – PETIZIONE D’AIUTO
Venerdi 17 aprile, cioè venerdi dopo Pasqua, la Comunità Montana di Massa Marittima vuole chiudere il Centro Carapax, e prenderne TUTTA  la gestione estromettendoci. Si tenta quindi di rubare 20 anni di duro lavoro di centinaia di volontari, quasi 3 milioni di euro di investimenti da parte dell'Unione Europea, di privati, di associazioni e fondazioni, e 17.000 animali sotto la tutela e responsabilità della International Rana Foundation, di proprietà di migliaia di soci, enti parchi italiani e esteri, spesso in prestito a scopo  riproduttivo per la salvaguardia della specie. Si mette cosi a repentaglio la vita di tanti animali, si vuole distruggere una decina di posti di lavoro. E’ un offesa per 2000 volontari di tutta la Toscana, di tutta l’Italia, di tutto l’Europa, che in questi 20 anni hanno reso il Centro Carapax grande!  AIUTATECI AD IMPEDIRE QUESTO FIRMANDO LA PETIZIONE andando sul sito www.carapax.it. GRAZIE

 Petition to save EUROPE’S FIRST TURTLE AND TORTOISE RESCUE CENTRE!
On next April 17th at 9 o’ clock AM the local “comunità montana” wants to put the whole centre under sequester and to close it down.  After 20 years of hard work of 2000 volunteers, now 3 days after Easter, the comunità montana tries to steal 7 people’s job, stealing know how, 3 million Euro investments in structures financed by private societies, private persons and the EU as well as stealing and putting at risk 17,000 chelonians, under the responsibility of the international RANA Foundation, 100 White Storks, who are breeding now, and 11 Donkeys and putting all these fragile creatures in the hands of incompetent people! This must be stopped IMMEDIATELY and therefore sign the petition you’ll find on www.carapax.org. Thanks

Pet Memorials

I took my paintbrush and paints down to the bottom of the garden today and painted a new gravestone for the latest departed pet, Jerry Lee the nine-month old kitten.

I’ve got a little corner of the garden for all of them. Some are actually buried there, others are buried in the garden of our old farmhouse in Umbria and so they are commemorated in our new garden with their names and dates on large stones.

The stones are a fairly new innovation, as in Umbria we made little wooden crosses for each of them until one day we heard a couple of farm-workers who were cutting the grass in the field behind the house saying “Look how many people there are in that cemetery!” We took the crosses with us when we moved, much to the bemusement of the Italian removal men.

While I had the paintbrush handy, I touched up the faded writing on some of the stones, each one making me remember the faithful pet concerned. There are twelve stones there now. Twelve animal friends come and gone. Some, like Birkana my wonderful Siamese cross, lived long lives. She made it until she was almost 21. The vet told me she was the second oldest cat he had ever treated. Some lives were all too brief – like the two siblings of Jerry Lee and the surviving cat Jimmy - who were only six weeks old when a fox got them early one morning. As the mother cat was semi-wild I’d thought it better to leave her and the litter outside as it was nice sunny weather. She managed to drag the two male kittens inside through the cat flap (God knows how) where I found them mewing in the fireplace, but it was too late for the other two. I only found one little body, the other had disappeared.

I’ve planted bulbs and a rose by the stones, which are in a shady area under pine trees. I’ve put a home-made bench down there and sit and think about them sometimes. But we pass them every day when in the garden, so they are always being visited and are not forgotten. The cats often sleep down there and occasionally I see a little bird perched on one of the stones too. It isn’t a sad place, at least I don’t think so.

 

Abruzzo Earthquake - Aid for Animals

The terrible events of the last few days in Abruzzo have reverberated around the country. Those poor, poor people in Aquila and the surrounding villages have been through hell, with thousands homeless and the aftershocks still continuing to add to their torment. Alan and I have had emails and calls from friends and relatives wanting to know that we were OK, and I reassured them that Central Italy covers a wide area and in fact we are a long way from the earthquake. It brought back memories of the 1997 Assisi earthquake though, which we did feel when we lived in Umbria.

You can contribute to the earthquake victims fund at local banks and post offices and we have made a donation, but, as this is primarily a pet site, I wanted to talk about the other victims - the animals.

I got an email yesterday from LAV - Italy's anti-vivisection league. It read of the appeal that LAV have made to the head of Civil Protection in the area asking him to try not to separate pets from their homeless owners if at all possible. This is to save the families from extra stress and so avoid a huge upsurge in the number of abandoned animals. LAV also asked any members of the public to consider taking in animals who have been temporarily separated from their owners because of the earthquake.

LAV have allocated 10,000 Euros from their 5 per mille fund (a fund made up of voluntary contributions by taxpayers) towards veterinary costs for first aid treatment of injured animals as well as contributing towards costs involved in saving animals in danger or assisting those needing help.

If you are in Italy (or overseas) and want to make a contribution to LAV to help animals affected by the earthquake, then you can do so at a bank or post office. The subject is "Emergenza animali terremoto Abruzzo"

CC postale in favour of: LAV, n. 24860009
CC bancario in favour of: LAV (Banca Popolare Etica), Codice IBAN:  IT16 E050 1803 2000 0000 0501 112

It’s Got Your Name On It

When you go regularly to a place its features become etched on your mind. Your subconscious immediately notices if there is anything different long before your conscious mind does.

Such is the case with my regular dog walk. Far into the woods there’s a little home-made wooden cross with a crudely carved hand pointing up a steep slope to a famous local landmark with another cross on the top. It’s quite a climb and I haven’t quite made it to the top yet! It’s somewhere that hardly anyone goes to and the first time I saw it I was completely surprised and touched that someone should have taken the trouble to signal the path for fellow travellers.

The cross marks the point where I usually turn back, taking a slightly higher path to return home (not in the spiritual sense!) I have long since stopped looking at it closely, but today something about it made me stop and turn. Confused dogs and one cat almost smacked into my legs as I made the unexpected manoeuvre, but they waited patiently as I examined the cross.

“You bastards!” I said out loud. Someone had written over one arm and down the leg of the cross in purple marker pen, words along the lines of “Eli e Giu 2009” and then something incomprehensible. I looked around for something to clean it off with and spied a Canon lens cap on the ground. I fervently hoped that this belonged to the pair of graffiti artists and that they were searching all over for it and cursing their bad luck.

The lens cap didn’t make a very efficient scraper so I used a sharp stone, tissue and dew from the grass to get rid of the worst of the writing. Although not very religious, I was absolutely seething and the animals looked on curiously from their various vantage points (they were sitting by now, expecting this to be a long job) as I swore and rubbed and swore and rubbed some more.

The words were finally erased and Eli and Giu were no more (I wish). The mentality of people who feel the need to scrawl their names on everything is quite beyond me. I remember a visit to the nearby sanctuary of La Verna where St Francis of Assisi got the stigmata (as Alan says ‘he got around that bloke’) and the beautifully painted stations of the cross were marred in several places by the infantile scribblings of weak-minded individuals who thought this was a clever way to make their mark.

I looked back at my handiwork, the words weren’t completely obliterated but at least you couldn’t see them from a distance and then called the animals who checked with anxious eyes that I was OK before we turned onto the path for home.

Living in Italy - the Dirty Truth

It may be slightly easier when you exchange like for like. When you move from a rural location in your own country to the Italian countryside. But it comes as quite a shock if, as we did, you exchange suburban life in Britain for the Italian rural idyll.

What no-one prepares you for is how dirty it all is. Our Umbrian house was next to a strada bianca (unmetalled road) so everything was covered in a  thin layer of white dust almost all the time, except when it was raining.

My job from hell was stripping the ancient ceiling beams in the farmhouse of their layers of white emulsion. Despite wearing goggles and a mask the dirt and paint flakes got in my eyes, up my nose and down my throat. It was absolutely horrible. There is a specific smell peculiar to old Italian farmhouse dust that I will never forget as long as I live.

Then of course you have to add animals to the mix. Apart from dog and cat hair, easier to cope with in a house with no carpets, there is the mud and the water. On wet days and in winter I wear Wellingtons for my daily trek across the field and into the woods. One Wellington has now got a cut in it so my feet were soaking wet this morning, which sort of defeats the object really. Any rain and the dogs (and cats) get soaking wet and it is a race who can get inside first – me to grab the towel to dry them, or the herd of sodden animals intent on rolling themselves dry on the settee.

At least this farmhouse is surrounded by paving and so the mud which used to dog my every step in Umbria has reduced. The ground there was thick clay which sucked you in and covered everything in oozing glossy goo. When I had to clean the geese out the straw in their house stuck to the mud too, and the odd feather.

I used to dress quite smartly for work in the UK, hair, make up and nails always done, nice clothes. Here, however I have found things get dirty so fast I can’t keep up. One ex-pat I know always brings what she called her ‘Umbrian wardrobe’ to her holiday house in Italy.

I must admit I quite enjoy this dirty life though. I mean, it isn’t really dirty at all when the sun shines, as it is doing on this lovely spring day. And having a limited wardrobe saves the endless decisions about what to wear each morning. I have kept some standards though. My nails are always varnished, even if it only lasts five minutes as I plunge my hands into the vegetable patch, and I always put my make up on. I reckon if I can make someone keep their eyes on my face they won’t notice the paw prints all over my trousers.

Bye Bye to the Dangerous Dog Blacklist

Italy is to abandon its controversial list of dangerous dog breeds in favour of a system which puts more responsibility on the owner. The ‘black list’ is to be scrapped within  a month says Health Under Secretary Francesca Martini, who added that since its introduction in 2003 there had been no decrease in incidents of dogs attacking people.

The dangerous dog breed list will be replaced by a series of measures designed to place responsibility fairly and squarely on the shoulders of the owner. Named  the "Ordinanza per la tutela dell'incolumita' pubblica dell'aggressione di cani" the owners will have civil and legal obligation for any damage caused by their dog.

When out and about dogs still have to be on leads (preferably short – between a metre and a metre and a half in length), and owners have to carry a muzzle in case they run into a dangerous situation. Owners also have to clean up after their dogs. In public parks the dogs are allowed more freedom, not off the lead, but with longer leads, allowing them to have a run about.

Owners of cani impegnativi - dog breeds which are considered dangerous by the local commune must get a type of patente (licence) stating that the dog has an owner that is considered capable of handling it. Vets must keep a list of these dogs and their owners. The owners of the cani impegnativi must also get obligatory third party public liability insurance for their dogs.

Local Asl’s (Azienda Sanitaria Locale )will also be organising courses on responsible dog ownership and you can get more information from them or from your local vet.

Snakes on the Catwalk

We must have looked quite a sight this morning – me and the two dogs and three cats on our daily walk to the woods.

The cats have only just started coming along. Sometimes all three of them decide to take some exercise, sometimes it’s only one. Today they were a symmetrical cat sandwich, the two white and black females Monica and Misha topping and tailing little black and white Jimmy in the middle.

Cats on walks are very serious and determined, their attention totally focussed on keeping up. They look straight ahead, and walk or trot with heads down. If there is more than one then they walk in a line one behind the other. They tend not to like to cross open spaces (no trees to tear up if danger threatens) so they cross the field behind the house in a strange lope, their bodies curved into a comma shape. It’s very funny to watch.

This morning, on one of the stony tracks in the woods we were stopped in our tracks by a dead snake. I haven't seen that many snakes in Italy, but know there are two main ones -grass snakes and vipers. This one was enormous, probably a metre long and greyish olive green with black markings. As I write this I’m not sure if it was a grass snake or a water snake. I have looked it upon Wikipedia to see, but I’m still not sure. I might have to go back and check!

A European grass snake, also known as the garter snake or ringed snake natrix natrix for those of you who like the terminology is quite harmless except if you happen to be an amphibian. They vary in colour from green to grey and have a yellow collar. They like water and woods. I have seen several water snakes in Italy  including some spectacular luminous green ones. You’ll often see them in the middle of strade bianche (unmade country roads) having been squashed by cars.

The dangerous snakes in Italy are the viperi – vipera berus – although they are quite timid and tend to slither away when they hear you coming. They can be quite big and fat - up to 60cm (2 feet) long and have a distinctive flat head with an X or a V on the back. Their colour can vary from grey to almost black and they have a black zig-zag pattern all down their backs.

The cats approached cautiously, while I managed to distract the dogs with a biscuit and they soon lost interest in the coiled creature that had turned up so unexpectedly. But for me a snake is more than just a snake. I tend to view these events from nature symbolically and a snake is a strong symbol of creativity. I hope that is a good omen for my work today!

 

Where Have All the Dollies Gone?

Both my dogs love their dollies. Being a Lab, Zsa Zsa has always got something in her mouth and Maia now copies her. With them both having a penchant for stuffed toys things can get quite expensive, so I tend to buy them from charity shops when back home in the UK or from local markets. I’ve also found local chain Marino Fa Mercato a good source of remarkably realistic looking toys, including my latest find - a horrible looking rat with a pink hairless tail.

There is now quite a large collection scattered around the garden and in the house - there is coyote dolly, snowman dolly, pig dolly even the bizarrely named bat-ray dolly as it looks like a cross between a mantra ray and a bat. ZsaZsa often manages to stuff several dollies in her mouth at once plus a rawhide chew, but then, that’s Labs for you.

The majority of the toys are missing their heads, stuffing or the left eye (not sure why it is always the left) and when the dogs get particularly aggressive with the poor dollies, tossing them in the air or shaking them ferociously, I’m reminded of the fact that they are simply doing what nature intended and the dollies are simply prey substitutes being thrown around and disembowelled.

Recently the dollies have been disappearing from the garden. I don’t know what’s taking them but guess it could be a fox. I have been discovering them in very odd locations while on my daily walk with the dogs in the woods behind the house. I found coyote dolly halfway up a rocky cliff and poor bat-ray dolly’s familiar triangular black form was deposited in the middle of some virtually inaccessible thorny bushes. Maia managed to retrieve them and took them home, smelling strongly of fox.

I’ve washed them and they are now back in the garden, but now pig dolly and rat dolly have disappeared. There’s only one things for it – I’ll have to have a stake-out in the garden one night to see who exactly the culprit is. I’ll just have to track down some night vision goggles …

Animal Thoughts in Rome

It’s terrible when pets die. I have lost two cats in two months, the first cat – Jingles was 16 and it was sort of expected but not very nice, the second, Jerry, a nine-month-old kitten in seemingly perfect health was a complete shock. He died suddenly while asleep.

I believe that pets’ spirits continue, the energy and the love don’t just disappear, and so got in touch with British full-time animal communicator Pea Horsley, who I had written an article on in the past.

Pea is a fantastic, caring person and has been featured in the national press. As well as being a reiki animal healer, she does one to one readings and can track down missing pets as well as communicate with the spirit of those no longer with us. All she needs is a photo showing the eyes clearly looking at you. She gave me a wonderful reading for Jingles, which calmed me down and reassured me.

Pea runs workshops on animal communication and is going to be in Rome in May, running two workshops - a residential and non residential one. There are still places on the reserve list. Have a look for more details on her lovely website www.animalthoughts.com