What would you do to save the life of your pet? Mother Nature Network recently published an in-depth look at the lengths pet owners are willing to go to to save their pets’ lives. The responses may surprise you.

According to a poll conducted last year by online lending resource LendEDU, dog owners are willing to spend an average of over $10,000 on medical treatment to save the life of their dog. Cat owners, however, are only willing to spend an average of $3,500. While these figures represent the upper limits of what pet owners are willing to spend, the actual average annual cost of medical care seems to be much lower. According to data from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), pet owners typically only spend between $210 and $260 on routine medical care for their pets each year.

The real test for pet owners is when an unforeseen medical issue come up. Citing data from insurance provider Nationwide, the article notes that the the average cost of treating the most common emergent health issues is $255 for dogs — for the treatment of skin allergies — and $495 for cats — for the treatment of urinary tract issues. In total, Nationwide spent over $96 million in 2017 on policy claims for pets.

While these figures represent the more common emergent medical treatments pets and their owners may face, the outliers can be exceptionally high.

The article describes the account of one woman who spent over $30,000 on emergency medical care for her pet dog. While some owners are willing to pay as much as possible to save the life of their pets, doing so may involve taking on considerable debt. Citing predatory lenders with high interest rates, Douglas Aspros, veterinarian and former president of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), says that owners’ willingness to do anything to save their pets puts some veterinarians in an ethical bind.

“It’s wonderful that people are willing to spend $10,000 or $20,000 to deal with their sick pet, but ethically it puts us in quicksand. If a client wants me to do a $20,000 surgery on a cat, the practicality has to go beyond, ‘There’s someone willing to pay for it.’ As a society, should we be promoting that?”

— Douglas Aspros, Veterinarian & Former President, AVMA

For more information about the lengths pet owners are — and aren’t — willing to go to to save their pets, check out the full article on MNN.

Source: How much would you spend to save your pet?

Most know to keep chocolate, antifreeze, and pesticides well out of reach of pets, but there are many other common household items that pose a poisoning risk to pet. American Humane has published a list of lesser known, potentially toxic household items that pet owners should be aware of. Items on the list include

• Acetaminophen (Tylenol), ibuprofen (Advil), and other common over-the-counter medications
• Fabric softener sheets
• Batteries
• Sugar-free candies, mints, and other snacks
• Grapes and raisins

Because many of these items are small, common, and often easy to accidentally leave in reach of a pet, American Humane stresses that care be taken to secure them from your pets. Further, because some of the more potent items on this list — such as the artificial sweetener Xylitol — can result in catastrophic organ failure with only brief or small exposure, it’s important for pet owners to minimize the possibility of accidental ingestion.

For the full list of surprising household poisons, as well as signs of poisoning to watch out for, read American Humane’s full article.

Source: The Surprising Pet Poisons Lurking in Your Home

Scientists at the University of Helsinki are developing artificial intelligence-based tactics to help detect traces of the illegal wildlife trade on social media.

The tactics, described in the latest issue of the journal Conservation Biology, use machine learning methods and natural language processing to mine social media platforms for evidence of illegal animal trafficking. This AI-supported approach can quickly sift through thousands of images and textual data and flag posts that appear to contain evidence of illegal activity. Once posts have been identified, metadata can provide clues about the origin of the post as well as possible collaborators. This information can then be passed on to law enforcement to pursue.

“Machine learning algorithms can be trained to detect which species or wildlife products, such as rhino horns, appear in an image or video contained in social media posts, while also classifying their setting, such as a natural habitat or a marketplace.”

— Christoph Fink, Information Scientist, University of Helsinki

Historically, analyzing social media for evidence of illegal wildlife trading required specially trained humans and a prohibitively large amount of time. However, recent advances in machine learning have enabled computers to accurately identify a variety of species nearly instantaneously.

The scientists responsible for the development of these AI-based detection tools hope they will be used to reduce the number of instances of illegal trafficking and to advance wildlife conservation efforts.

Source: Using artificial intelligence to investigate illegal wildlife trade on social media

The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) recently made several major advances toward their goal of modernizing pet food labels.

Among the recent developments, a pet nutrition facts box — similar to those found on human food packaging — has been proposed as a replacement to existing product content analysis and calorie content statements. While not completely identical to the human Nutrition Facts label, the Pet Nutrition Facts label is intended to be visually and functionally similar.

In addition to the revised content information, updates to nutritional adequacy statement requirements have also been proposed. Under the recently proposed requirements, pet food packaging would need to display a standardized graphic on the front that would indicate the sizes and life stages for which the food is formulated. Additional graphics would be required for foods not intended to be the primary source of nutrition and for those intended for use only under veterinary supervision.

While the proposed pet food label updates represent a large step forward, they have not yet been formally decided upon. AAFCO intends to collect additional data from consumers and other stakeholders before considering next steps for the proposed changes.

Source: AAFCO makes progress on pet food labeling modernization

Blue Buffalo Pet Products have announced that they have entered an agreement with General Mills under which General Mills will acquire the pet food giant for approximately $8 billion.

Upon completion of the sale — which is still pending regulatory approval — Blue Buffalo will continue to operate as a new pet-oriented arm of General Mills.

“I have been impressed by General Mills’ strong track record of accelerating growth for its natural and organic brands, while giving them the freedom to maintain their own unique culture and identity. General Mills will be a tremendous home for our BLUE brand as our talented team of over 1,700 ‘Buffs’ joins this new extended family. From the first meeting Jeff and I had, I felt a strong cultural fit between our two companies and believe they will be a great partner in our mission to reach more pet parents and feed more pets. This transaction creates significant, immediate value for our shareholders, as it recognizes the strength of our competitively advantaged business model. Along with our leadership team, we look forward to working with General Mills to continue growing the BLUE brand for many years to come.”

— Billy Bishop, CEO, Blue Buffalo

Source: General Mills Buys Blue Buffalo for $8B