Ruthie, I just bought them for pets. I love ducks and I've only had muscovies and mallards and I wanted to get some different kinds and watch them grow up and then give them the best life possible for them. I didn't for no toher reason, I just want them for loving pets. Sullicorbitt, I bet they will be adorable! Send some pics when you get some! I'll send some of mine too when I get some!

Happy New Year, Everyone! I think that Meghane is giving us an outstanding example on how we could educate the public more effectively. Maghane, as our resident vet, I'm curious about the percentage of animals you see coming from a 'mill' source vs. the BYB. Overall, do you see any difference in health between the two? I would like to take your commercial and show the puppy coming from a nice couple's home to it's vet appointment. Until I started reading the threads on here, I never realized there were so many purebreds in the shelters. The public doesn't have such a positive opinion about shelter animals, either. If I owned a shelter, I would advertise it just like a petting zoo advertises. Come out and meet all the different kinds of animals, see the lovely animals donated to the facility, free admission, 'family day' on Saturday's... It's much more enticing than the depressing, homeless, unwanted, discarded animals route. You girls were talking about educating children so I looked into what kind of education they are getting. The Humane Society has some literature for teachers and parents. They put out a newsletter which they say reaches 200 million children nationwide. I'd be interested to know how much time is really devoted in the classrooms to the material. Ultimately, it's the parents that need to educate the children in their own pet selections. I looked a little more in-depth into what the Humane Society is doing for our education. Their 2008 Financial Report is on-line. They spent $6,746,114. in both education and research (it's a combined total for both). But to put this into some sort of perspective their revenue was $131,281,161.00 of which over 100 million dollars was unrestricted. Due to their total lack of response on a personal issue, I'm pretty down on their organizational structure. This isn't to slight the worker bees (often volunteer, no less) out on the front-lines. That's an incredible undertaking and full credit is due. However, I shared the public opinion that when a problem arose, they were there immediately taking action. That was not my experience. We actually hang up on them when they call for funds now so I don't get their fund-raising literature. In 2008 they spent over 27 million in fund-raising. On the surface, it seems that they are adept on raising money :). Clubbing seals in the head certainly gets people to reach into their pockets. So do starving dog photos. They've made great strides for the seals in a relatively short span of time. Why do we still have starving dogs after so many years? If they can run fund-raising campaigns so effectively, why can they not run educational programs more effectively? The financial report doesn't show how much revenue was received from people making donations with the intention of stopping the mills. It leaves the lingering question in my mind as to what their revenues would be to help the chickens if the mills were gone. There appears to be confusion about breeders. I've actually communicated with a small group of ethical cat breeders. There is not an easy way for us to distinguish between a reputable breeder and a byb breeder. Hence, if we started using the term "pet peddler" people would become a little more alert. Better yet, if the reputable breeders with start calling themselves something different than 'breeder' we could begin to segregate. One of things I have found is that we really don't understand what a reputable breeder does as far as costs. We tend to use the monetary cost of the pet to determine the quality of the animal. A $200 puppy sounds like a quality pup and a $50 pup is the same puppy from someone not trying to make a profit from us! Neither is factual. The group I spoke with seemed open to the thought of actually putting up on their web pages the true costs that go into the animals. I truly think if this information was easily obtained, the educational value would be immeasurable. I'm sure it varies from breed to breed but it is very expensive to produce a healthy animal. The continuous health screenings on their animals costs a lot. There is a lot of care and concern about each animal in their program. I've reached a small group within TICA for cats. They were receptive to start helping to educate the cat community in different way. There is equal frustration on their side that we are not making educated purchases. Does anyone in here know of a way to reach some groups of ethical dog breeders? Maybe if we could open up communication between us and the ethical breeders, some of the confusion would subside. Do you have any more suggestions on how they could help us? I'm willing to put them out there. People seem to have the same views about the AKC. (lol - saintpfla - registering your couch)! I went to the CFA, Cat Fancier's Association, to see what kind of education they are putting out for cat consumers. OMG! They say that a purebred cat price starts at about $300. I don't know the cost of all purebred cats, they must vary. I know the Bengals from reputable sources are in the neighborhood of $1,000 and I found the Abyssinian are the same. So, if you are just surfacing around without educating yourself, you're thinking you are getting bilked by a reputable breeder. It's somewhat misleading. They've given cat consumers 3 avenues to buy our purebred kitten. The Want-Ads (which means internet to most now), pet stores and reputable breeders. It didn't come across to me that using a reputable breeder is for health. And a pet store? They write that the kittens sometimes come from kitten mills. Why wouldn't they completely discourage using the pet store since it would be hard to determine if it is a mill kitten or not? Just because a kitten doesn't have a runny nose or eyes does not mean it's healthy! If you take a look at the pricing schedule, you're led to believe the cost is based on looks. Yes, you pay more of a premium for a perfect look, however, if you aren't showing your pet, you still need to pay a premium for health - not $300. The cat breeders seem to follow this same pricing structure so the health concerns are not immediately apparent. Is this the same for dog breeders? It costs between $20 - $60 to register your cat (depending on the number of generations requested). I don't anticipate buying another purebred any time soon. However, since I don't show, I will refuse to register an animal again until I see some changes within the information they are providing. I micro-chip so have a solid identification on my pet with both my contact info and my reputable breeder's contact info on my new kitten. I don't find any value in the registration paper. I had registered her with TICA but the paper sits in my file drawer. Here is a link that might be useful: Cat Fanciers' Association

Just a reminder that even if the painting projects are a bit slow this time of year, we can still chat about other stuff just to stay in touch. Come on over to the conversations side and tell us what's going on in your life! And don't forget to browse the gallery secion here too. Some of us only post pics of projects over there. Luvs

Leave as is, I think it's fine! I have watched black roots begin to sprout new green roots when the plant gets settled into its new pot. I think it will be just fine now that it's in breathable bark. I do mist my aerial roots daily ... I figure it can't hurt, right? This way if I ever wait too long between waterings/soakings, I know it's at least gotten some moisture from the mistings, and won't get too shocked.