Riverspots, it was a surprise to see my old post return. I agree with everything you have said, but I understand that many good friends on this site have far different opinions, and I do respect those opinions. As I respond a year later, I realize that most of us take care of our own animals, and I should have noticed that those beautiful hydrangeas were coming through the slats of the fence, and should have not thought it was cute that the dogs would grab the orchid buds that fell. I cannot understand why cat owners feel that is is acceptable to allow their cats to roam at night. Lou M, did you know that vitamins are not regulated, and Vitamin D and A can hurt us? I have also heard that you cannot overdose with the D from the sun, but I overdosed on the pills. I told my doctor that I was only taking a little more than 2,000 IU, and he said that for all I knew I was taking 20,000. I used a name brand from a good store, but he said they were not regulated and I had all the signs of an overdose. AFter stopping the D for a week or so, the symptoms went away. We all know that excessive A is dangerous. Berndoodle, thanks. I allow the use of chemicals for termites. That is really necessary in our area. I also use DEET. Why do you dislike it so much? I always wear short sleeves, and crop pants, so I only spray a couple of areas. Your tick area is over the top isn't it? Our lot is on the larger size for a suburb, but we don't own farm property, and I can imagine that it would be overwhelming to try to control ticks on acreage. huttnem, one neighbor at a time! Little by little if people are aware of what they are using, and if they are aware that the FDA does not control nearly what we think they control, we will greatly reduce the harm to our neighborhoods. We need to encourage others to only spray where it is needed. To coat the yard with a dangerous chemical to stop snails is downright silly. Hi Patricia. Our dogs have their own yard, and also have the use of much of the house. Unfortunately they feel that they have a right to eat anything in their yard or our kitchen. We spill cheese, it's theirs. Thinking like a human, a spilled orchid became his, and either that or the hydrangea that spilled over to their yard made my dog very sick. We have doubled the length of the dogs' yard, and will not be bringing flowers inside now except for roses. My dogs never try to touch any vegetation when we walk them, and they ignore my roses. I need to think more like a dog to protect my dogs. ha ha ha I understand what Patricia was saying about her grandmother, but we live such a different life than our grandparents. My dogs are golden retrievers, but their life is not one where they can run in the fields, and burn their food like maybe nature intended. They can tend to overeat, and put on weight. Therefore, we control the food they get. Instead of digesting a bird or rabbit that might have fiber (ick), they digest dog food that is very expensive, and has the nutrients that the dog food company says they need. Mine would always like more, but the Vet says I am extending their lives by limiting their food intake, and keeping them slim. For this reason my dogs will tend to eat almost anything -- they don't have the instinct that a dog on a farm might have because we always take care of them. Thank you all for your replies. Sammy

Hey, on 5/20/07 i was in my backyard enjoying the sun and i noticed that a hawk was circling over the backyard. I have an Italian Greyhound and he was strolling about so i thouht the hawk may have been looking at him. I kind of got nervous so i rushed over to him to try to catch him but he was having to much fun to come inside so he starts speeding around the yard playfully. As i'm trying to catch him i notice a still bird sitting in the open grass I study it for awhile and it hasn't blinked or moved at all, i gently touch its beak with the tip of my shoe to see if alive or dead because i often find dead birds but this one wasn't shredded. Once i touch its beak it opens and i relize the hawk was stalking the bird! I dig up a few worms clean them then let them soak in a little Gatorade for a minute and feed them to the bird. I look to see if the hawk is still around and it has perched itself on the neighboor's roof. The little bird being replenished starts to hop around so i think to myself it must be a fledgling. I let it hop around without any interaction and the parents start to react nerviously, thats when i discover it was a baby robin. As it hops closer to the neighboors fence i soon put together the pieces and the parents are panicking becuase the hawk is over there so i walk as calmly and fast as i can but i startle it and it goes under the large wood fence as the parent robins start to scream and squawk. I run to get a garbage can, a net, the stick part of a broken shovel, and duck tape. I now have a very long net and something to stand on to see over the fence. I swoop it in the net just in time and the hawk takes of from the closer part of the roof frustrated. Sure the parents are mad at me now but i couldn't just leave it there for the hawk to get it later. So i took it inside. That afternoon i put it in a Nike shoe box and went back to my other house in NYC. The next day i brought it to school to ask my math teacher what i should do because she has helped injured birds before, she upgraded its box to an office paper box. She recommened Exact hand feeding formula for baby birds and an eye dropper. A couple of days i bought a small hamster cage that fitted the robin well and then later i set out to find some worms. It is very hard to find wild worms in NYC but i did. As the bird got a little fatter we cleaned up the cage and switched it for a real bird cage. I let it out in my room whenever i'm not at school. It is happy as can be. I am currently trying to teach it how to eat on its own by gently pushing its beak into various fruits - I research what it should and shouldn't have. Tomorrow will make it a month that its been living with me. I do plan to give it the option of leaving, but thats after i teach it to eat without my assistance. It will peck and eat small insects that it finds on the patio in NJ. Well thats my story in great detail, hope i have some interesting comments to view in a few days. BTW it taught itself to walk in a hamster wheel which i took a short video of. (NOTE: It is no longer in the hamster cage) I'll post the link for anyone that would like to see. LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRflDdmRu0c

You are correct but you ran 2 paragraphs together. The full paragraph is: "A reassessment of boric acid/borax by the United States Environmental Protection Agency Office of Pesticide Programs found potential developmental toxicity (especially effects on the testes).[11] Boric acid solutions used as an eye wash or on abraded skin are known to be especially toxic to infants, especially after repeated use because of its slow elimination rate.[12]" I am not arguing here. I just want to point out that like everything else we have to weigh the good and the bad. Which is getting harder every day. For those of us who are trying to eliminate our exposure to chemicals there may be concerns about swimming in this product. People are being told how great this product is to use they should beware it may not be harmless. I have posted the toxicity on both Borax and Boric acid from Wikipedia. TOXICITY ON BORIC ACID: Based on mammal median lethal dose (LD50) rating of 2,660 mg/kg body mass, boric acid is poisonous if taken internally or inhaled. However, it is generally considered to be not much more toxic than table salt.[4] The Thirteenth Edition of the Merck Index indicates that the LD50 of boric acid is 5.14 g/kg for oral dosages given to rats, and that 5 to 20 g/kg has produced death in adult humans. The LD50 of sodium chloride is reported to be 3.75 g/kg in rats according to the Merck Index. Long term exposure to boric acid may be of more concern. Although it does not appear to be carcinogenic, studies in dogs have attributed testicular atrophy after exposure to 32 mg/kg bw/day for 90 days. This level is far lower than the LD50.[5] According to boric acid IUCLID Dataset published by the European Commission, boric acid in high doses shows significant developmental toxicity and teratogenicity in rabbit, rat and mouse featus such as cardiovascular defects, skeletal variations, mild renal lesions.[6] As a consequence, in August 2008, in the 30th ATP to EU directive 67/548/EEC, the EC decided to amend its classification as reprotoxic cat. 2 and R60 (may impair fertility) R61 (may cause harm to the unborn child). TOXICITY ON BORAX: Borax, sodium tetraborate decahydrate, is not acutely toxic. [ 8 ] Its LD50 (median lethal dose) score is tested at 2.66 g/kg in rats. [ 9 ] This does not mean that it is safe, merely that a significant dose of the chemical is needed to cause severe symptoms or death. The median lethal dose for humans tends to differ for a given compound from that of rats. Simple exposure can cause respiratory and skin irritation. Ingestion may cause gastrointestinal distress including nausea, persistent vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Effects on the vascular system and brain include headaches and lethargy, but are less frequent. "In severe poisonings, a beefy red skin rash affecting palms, soles, buttocks and scrotum has been described. With severe poisoning, erythematous and exfoliative rash, unconsciousness, respiratory depression, and renal failure." [ 10 ] A reassessment of boric acid/borax by the United States Environmental Protection Agency Office of Pesticide Programs found potential developmental toxicity (especially effects on the testes).[11] Boric acid solutions used as an eye wash or on abraded skin are known to be especially toxic to infants, especially after repeated use because of its slow elimination rate.[12]

I can't believe people are still feeding their pets this stuff. i had a supply of Waggin Train treats...the first item on the list above...and when the news came out about this MONTHS AGO, I called them and they told me to throw them out and they sent me a check for twenty-some dollars to cover the cost. I'm leary about any more treats as well. Cooking a lot of chicken thighs here...I bake a cookie tray full, let them cool, pull the meat off the bone and put it in several baggies. Store in freezer and probably every five days or so, I put a bag in the fridge to defrost.