The Life's Abundance Business Opportunity

Life's Abundance has been helping people build financial freedom since 1999.  

This video will show you how building a Life's Abundance business can enable you to create a source of recurring income. Using the proven business model, many Life's Abundance field reps have been able to enjoy life on their own terms. Life's Abundance generous compensation plan is designed to reward you, whether you’re working part-time or full-time. The amount you make depends on how much time and energy you decide to devote to your home business.

Are you a pet professional?  Did you ever wonder if you could benefit from representing a pet product company whose primary focus is the long-term health and happiness of companion animals?  The answer is YES! 

Breeders, groomers, pet sitters, daycare operators, trainers and other pet care professionals owe it to themselves to learn about the extensive line of health-promoting foods, treats, supplements and care products provided by Life's Abundance.

This video will explain the seven reasons why promoting Life's Abundance products may be a very good decision for pet professionals and their clients!

Please take a moment to review all the information found on my website; http://HeresToHappierHealthierPets.com  I believe you will be impressed with our products, our compensation plan and everything else that Life's Abundance has to offer you as an individual pet owner or a pet professional.

Canine Cancer

Having your dog diagnosed with cancer is a very frightening thing. You see a happy, healthy dog in front of you.  You’ve had blood tests done just as a precaution to make sure there is nothing going on with your beloved pup that isn’t obvious. After all, she’s getting older now.  Then things start to happen that are just not normal for your dog.  So you dig a little deeper.  Maybe have an x-ray done.  And there you see a tumor inside your furbaby.  Canine cancer is more common than you might think.

Did you know that the National Canine Cancer Foundation estimates that 1 in 3 dogs will suffer from cancer?  As a matter of fact, cancer accounts for almost half of all deaths in pets over 10 years of age.

Cancer can affect just about any location or organ in the body. Signs of cancer vary with the location and type of cancer. How rapidly the cancer develops and spreads will depend on the type of cancer, the location in the body, and the individual pet.

Obviously the earlier the cancer is detected the better chance your dog has of surviving treatment, or at least living a longer more comfortable life.  There are signs to look for in your dog that may let you know something is wrong.  Dogs get many of the same types of cancer as humans.  Some of the common signs of cancer in dogs are:

• Any lump or mass that appears to be increasing in size
• Any sore that does not heal
• Change in bowel or bladder habits
• Difficulty urinating or defecating
• Unexplained bleeding or discharge from any body opening
• Loss of appetite
• Weight loss
• Difficulty breathing
• Persistent lameness or stiffness
• Offensive odor
• Difficulty eating or swallowing

You know your dog better than anyone and will recognize when something is wrong.  Be sure to alert your veterinarian to any changes that you feel are concerning. 

Cancer treatment can be very costly.  Many people are now purchasing Pet Health Insurance to help with the cost of treatment.  There are also several websites that offer help if you are having trouble affording veterinary care.  

Whether you decide to treat the cancer aggressively or, especially in the case of much older dogs, keep her as comfortable and happy as you can until her time with you is up, it is up to you to decide what is right for your dog. 

In Memory of Swee’Pea

I had to say good-bye to my Baby Girl this past week.  I’ve done this before.  I’ve actually had to send two other dogs, Chewy and Tara, to the Rainbow Bridge over the past year.  Swee’Pea was by far the most difficult.

Swee’Pea, a beautiful American Eskimo, became part of our family right around Thanksgiving in 2000.  She was 1 ½ years old. My son’s roommate’s mother was her previous owner and sent her with him when he moved in with my son. Being two young men who both worked and liked to play, they knew they couldn’t take care of her so my son asked me if I would take her.  

I walked over to his house and the second I met Swee’Pea I fell in love with her and she with me.  From that day on she was my little girl.

Just a few days after she came to live with my husband and me, she was lying on the floor next to me and I saw her tummy moving.  She was pregnant!  It wasn’t two weeks later that she gave birth to five puppies who looked to be crossed with pit bull.  Swee’Pea wasn’t the best momma dog I’ve ever know, probably because she loved attention and being spoiled and her babies were infringing on that.  Once they were old enough, I found homes for them and had Swee’Pea spayed.  

Swee’Pea was a very smart dog and wanted nothing more than to please me.  She would do anything for a cookie!  I taught her to sit, sit up pretty and lay down when it was time for her treat.  It didn’t take long for her to realize the faster she did that the quicker she’d get her cookie and she would do all three tricks in a matter of seconds.  

She was great with all the other dogs we brought into our home and even loved our cat.  She didn’t like small children, though, and would try to find a place to hide whenever some were around.  I really don’t know why….

She was my white shadow.  No matter where I was in the house, Swee’Pea was right there with me.  I would close the bathroom door when I took a shower in the morning and would see her two little front feet under it.  She always wanted to be close.

In early 2011 we learned that she had hypothyroidism, an elevated liver enzyme count and was borderline diabetic.  I switched her immediately to diet food and treats and her veterinarian prescribed meds for her thyroid and liver.  Three months later we did another blood test and there was a great improvement.  What a relief!  Another blood test three months after that and her numbers were almost normal.  She also began to lose weight dropping 17 lbs from February 2011 to February 2012.

Though all of those problems were solved, we discovered just a short month ago that she had a large tumor in her abdomen that was most likely cancer.  The tumor was attached to her spleen.  Her vet said that he could remove it but (isn’t there always a “but”?) with her age, she was 12 ½, and other health problems there was a fair chance that she wouldn’t survive the operation.  The thought of my loyal baby girl dying alone on the operating table was not something I wanted for her.  I made a commitment to her that she would not be alone when her time came and I intended to keep that promise.  The vet agreed when I told him I wanted to keep her as comfortable as possible and spoil her even more than she already was until it was her time.

I really thought I had at least several more months with her.  When we first got the diagnosis, you would never have known anything was wrong with her. She still had the clearest, brightest big brown eyes and was the same happy, silly dog I had known and loved for 11 years.  

On Tuesday, March 27^th I noticed that Swee’Pea was a bit “off”.  She didn’t exactly seem to feel bad, just uncomfortable.  That had happened a time or two and she always bounced right back.  On Wednesday, March 28^th, she was very slow getting up to go outside in the morning and when she was eating her breakfast, she laid down and I had to take her food and put it on the floor in front of her so she could finish.  I thought her arthritis was acting up and it was more comfortable for her to lie down.

That day my husband and I had dropped two of our other dogs off at the vet for shots and baths.  We picked them up around 2:00.  When we got home, Swee’Pea was lying on the floor in front of my bedroom door.  I heard some whining and went to see what was wrong.  I tried to coax her to get up but instead she cried.  Then her cries turned into loud cries of pain.  I put my hands under her to lift her and found she had urinated on herself.  I had my husband carry her into the living room and put her on the carpet thinking maybe the traction would help her stand but she couldn’t get up.  Her cries became more regular and the only thing that settled her down was me lying on the floor next to her. 

I couldn’t bear to see her like this.  I tried to think of ways to make her better but I knew by looking into those big brown eyes that she was ready to leave us.  The sparkle was gone and all that was there was a pleading for help.  

That afternoon I held her as her vet administered her release from pain.  I told her how much I loved her and what a good girl she had always been.  I told her not to be afraid because her friends, Chewy and Tara, were waiting for her at the Rainbow Bridge and they would take care of her until I was able to be with her once more.

Puppy Mills

Puppy Mills.  We’ve all heard the term.  We’ve watched in horror as news reporters show different rescue groups pulling matted and diseased dogs from small wire cages, where they have spent the majority of their lives.  These dogs have never known the gentle, loving touch of a human.  All they know is loneliness and suffering at the hands of the people who see them only as a way to make money by forcing them to breed over and over again.

Puppy mills usually house dogs in very small and unsanitary conditions.  The dogs do not receive adequate veterinary care, food, water or socialization.  These dogs do not receive treats, toys or exercise.  The cages they live in have wire bottoms to minimize the amount of clean-up the puppy mill owner must do.  Because of this, the dogs’ paws are often bleeding and severely injured.  Often, these cages are stacked one on top of the other with the urine and feces of the dogs above going into the cages of the dogs in the lower cages.  

More often than not, when a breeder dog reaches the age of 4 or 5, it is considered not to be useful anymore and is killed.  Some of the luckier ones are taken by rescues groups.  However, sometimes the lack of socialization makes them aggressive and unadoptable.

Due to the horrific conditions in which these dogs are kept, puppies from these facilities are often in poor health, and because of so much inbreeding of the dogs, a lot of the medical problems are hereditary and will show up in later years, such as hip dysplasia.  They are also prone to respiratory illnesses such as pneumonia.  Puppy mill puppies travel far to the pet stores that will sell them.  Cramped quarters on these long journeys cause stress and in some cases, the puppies arrive at their destination dead.

In recent years, state legislatures have passed new laws aimed at eliminating the worst abuses at puppy mills. New laws include limits on the number of breeding females, requirements that facilities be licensed and inspected, and requirements that dogs be given proper veterinary care. Louisiana, Pennsylvania and Virginia passed puppy mill laws in 2008, and 10 states passed laws in 2009 to crack down on abusive puppy mills.

 

Puppy mills have been around for decades. They continue to thrive because they prey on unwitting people who are smitten by adorable little faces of the puppies in pet store windows and on legitimate-seeming websites. 

There are too many homeless dogs and puppies in the United States.  Puppy mills only contribute to that figure.  Instead of buying your next puppy or dog from a pet store or from an online breeder, consider visiting your local animal shelter and adopting your next furchild.  Maybe if the demand for pet store puppies disappears, puppy mills will soon be a thing of the past.

This post is dedicated to Crystal, a former Puppy Mill Breeder Dog who went to the Rainbow Bridge on February 16, 2012…….much too soon.  Thank you to Bonnie and Ray for giving her the love and care she so deserved in the last years of her life.