vegansaurus!

Come to the Oakland Cat Vid Fest on Saturday and support the East Bay SPCA  »

Saturday is FULL of events on both coasts, you guys. And this one sounds like so much fun: the Oakland Cat Vid Fest! How much fun? Let’s see:

The Great Wall of Oakland is collaborating with the Walker Art Center to bring the Internet Cat Video Festival to Oakland! On Saturday, May 11, from 3 to 10 p.m., an estimated 5,000+ cat-lovers and friends will be celebrating felines and exploring the low-art of Internet cat videos together, in real-time, as we transform West Grand between Telegraph and Broadway into a cat-lovers wonderland. Best of all, proceeds benefit the East Bay SPCA!

During the day, cat-lovers and their allies can peruse cat and pet products and arts and crafts from a host of vendors, adopt cats from local rescue centers, learn about kitten fostering, listen to live bands, nom delicious human food from local food trucks, and participate in a plethora of cativities, including art projects.

As the sun sets, festival attendees will gather in front of the Great Wall to view the Bay Area premiere of #catvidfest, [Minneapolis, Minnesota’s] Walker Art Center’s curated collection of Internet cat videos. See your favorites: “Henri,” “Cats Playing Patty Cake,” and “Cat Says NOM NOM NOM.” The Great Wall’s artist in residence group, Bandaloop, will perform a cat-themed aerial duet off the 100-foor wall before the screening.

The Oakland Internet Cat Video Festival is a unique community event celebrating cats, art and technology while educating the public on the importance of cat adoption and kitten fostering.

Ridiculous and delightful, right? Check out this recap of the original CatVidFest that now works as a preview for Saturday’s event!

For more information, visit Oakland Cat Vid Fest online.

Got a tip about an awesome vegan-friendly event? Let us know! We love fun!

It’s Paul Shapiro’s weekly Animal News You Can Use!  »

Want to read a great AP story about the proponents of anti-whistleblower “ag-gag” bills getting part of their bodies (I’ll let you be the judge) handed to them at a legislative hearing in Nebraska yesterday? Also, the ag-friendly Bakersfield Californian editorial board slammed the supporters of a similar California bill this week, saying how they’re “amazed by the audacity of the cattle industry.”

Good week in statehouses for farm animals, with a New Jersey ag committee passing a bill to ban gestation crates and a Colorado committee doing the same on a bill to ban dairy cow tail-docking. We’ll continue working hard to further advance these bills.

There’s a fascinating story out today about a meat industry front man who admits he created a fake Facebook profile posing as an animal activist in order to criticize HSUS and encourage other animal activists to do the same.

After extensive dialogue with HSUS, Bob Evans is the latest food giant to announce it wants to phase out gestation crates. And the National Pork Board did a survey with promising results about the changing attitudes of pork producers to the gestation crate issue.

Think you’re the only one who finds promise in plant-based products? These billionaires are with you.

Finally, students! If you want “Skinny Bitch” Rory Freedman, VegNews editorial director Elizabeth Castoria, and HSUS’s Kristie Middleton to read your essay, enter HSUS’s Meatless Monday essay contest now!

Video of the week: Justin Timberlake on SNL singing about vegan eating. Words can’t describe how great it is.

Photo of the week: My cats enjoying their catio!

Kitty clothing site Cat-toure gets a makeover, kitty model is still baddass  »

Cat-toure, my favorite kitty clothing site, got a fabulous makeover! There are new clothes and a ton of new pics of the baddest B on the block, Liley. Look at that bruiser!

And remember, this line came to life because Liley’s breed doesn’t grow thick enough hair to stay warm in the chilly weather, so don’t get too angro about kitty clothes. As always, don’t put clothes on your kitty if she or he doesn’t like wearing clothes.

OMG Liley is the cutest adopted Rex in the land!

Pet CPR: Learn how, with vet tech David Watts!  »

This is David Watts, an Antioch, Calif., vet tech, demonstrating how to perform CPR on Caspar, a “resusci-dog” used as a veterinary teaching aide.

Did you know that there are animal-specific CPR techniques? The Contra Costa Times ran a neat little article about Watts, who owns a pet-ambulance company and teaches people how to perform life-saving techniques on their pets, specifically cats and dogs. Could you perform the Heimlich Maneuver on a hamster? Maybe, but you’d have to be awfully careful.

It seems like the techniques don’t differ too much between people and animals, but while my parents made me take a class on adult, child, and infant CPR before offering my services as a babysitter, I’d never heard of pet CPR before my friend Kelly sent me this article. “The thing is,” she said to me, “I’m not sure I’d be able to do it on my own dog, even if I knew how.” Which I think is interesting. I wonder if it’d be less terrifying doing chest compressions  or mouth-to-mouth on a dog than a baby. What do you think? Is the concept of holding your precious pet’s life in your hands more or less intimidating than an infant’s?

You definitely should check out the article for basic instructions and tips on preparing for domestic animal emergencies. Plus, for interested parties in the Bay Area, Watts offers classes on both pet CPR and combination pet CPR/trauma management. They cost $35-$45, and interested parties should call (925) 956-2911 for more information. Presumably they happen around Antioch, where Watts is based.

[Photo by Dan Rosenstrauch for the Contra Costa Times]

It’s Paul Shapiro’s Animal News You Can Use!  »

It’s Paul Shapiro’s weekly dose of all things animals! Yes!

Pork Magazine editorialized this week about what a “tough year” HSUS created in the US with its “laser focus on pork production.” Pork’s editor concludes: “Now, HSUS won’t go away; in fact it has gained strength. It has the formula down and will replicate its strategies within the pork sector as well as across the agriculture sector.”

Related: Metz Culinary Management is the latest major pork buyer to demand that its pork suppliers end their use of gestation crates…

On the other side of the world, Forbes has a sobering yet hopeful look at the challenges the animal movement faces in China and how Humane Society International is working to move the ball forward there. This interview is really worth the read.

Finally, check out this interesting new article on how the rise in demand for vegetarian food is largely coming from meat-eaters who are reducing the number of animals they’re eating.

Six years ago this week, Arizona voters made their state the first in the US to ban veal crates, and second to ban gestation crates. And four years ago this week, Californians banned both of those practices, as well as cramped cages for laying hens. Congratulations and happy anniversary to the thousands of awesome animal advocates who labored so tirelessly on those campaigns!

Video of the week: Ever feel like someone else is freeloading off your hard work? This cat may feel the same!

MeWOW: Hank the Cat comes in third in the Virginia Senate race!  »

I don’t know if that headline worked at all and I already wrote about this over at Jezebel but it’s just too awesome not to talk about more! He’s a cat! And he got 6,000 votes! It’s just too good.

 Hank the Cat ran on a pro-feline, job-creation, unlimited access to Fancy Feast (salmon supreme flavor) platform. This is not a joke, this is our reality. Well, maybe it’s both, but CATS 4 PREZ IN 2016.

Do you think he’s also available for marriage? Because I want to date a cat who’s going somewhere, these lazy-ass dogs in my life DON’T EVEN HAVE JOBS. Jesus.

Oh, and of course Tuxedo Stan, who did not win his mayoral race in Halifax because of a ridiculous technicality. All the cats for president of all the countries!!

Giveaway: Thundershirt for the cat or dog in your life!  »

Yay! It’s the next giveaway for Vegansaurus Giveaway Week! Check every day this week for more prizes!

You heard right!: we are giving away a Thundershirt! This is an amazing invention that helps dogs with anxiety problems. It can help hyper dogs, dogs who are fearful of traveling, dogs scared of fireworks, lots of stuff! This is Figaro modeling his own Thundershirt. He’s much happier than he looks, he was just hella tired. Prob because he was wearing his shirt! I swear, he falls right asleep like a lump when we put it on him. 

Figaro is a pretty high-strung dog. He came to the SPCA as a starving stray and when I first adopted him, he was pretty much scared of everything. He’s a lot better now but he is still on edge a lot. We got the Thundershirt for Fig on the recommendation of a trainer, she said it can help with anxiety. Turns out, it’s totally awesome! He always wears it when he’s scared during thunderstorms and he just totally falls asleep once it’s on. It’s hilarious. He straight passes out.

I hear the Thundershirt has been great for shelters, helping to modify behavioral issues that would keep a dog from getting adopted. The company actually does a lot of work with rescues—they donated 5,000 shirts to rescues in 2011! So cool! If more people got one, maybe a lot of dogs wouldn’t end up in the shelter in the first place! That would be nice, wouldn’t it?

Here’s the description from the site:

With its patent-pending design, Thundershirt’s gentle, constant pressure has a dramatic calming effect for most dogs if they are anxious, fearful or over-excited. Based on surveys completed by over two thousand customers, over 80 pecent of dogs show significant improvement in symptoms when using Thundershirt. Thundershirt is already helping tens of thousands of dogs around the world, and is recommended by thousands of veterinarians and dog trainers.

As for WHY Thundershirt’s gentle pressure works to calm a dog, experts such as Dr. Temple Grandin believe that pressure has a calming effect on the nervous system. Using pressure to relieve anxiety has been a common practice for years. 

So it’s just like a pressure thing, no crazy pills or supplements! And now, it looks like they have a Thundershirt for cats too, so cat owners can get in on this! Oooh, I should get one for Mitsy. She’s so sweet but she FLIPS OUT at the vet. It takes two people to like restrain her so they can give her a shot or whatever. And they have to wear those giant (shearling, bleh!) protective gloves that go up to the shoulder. I’m like, I swear she’s a sweetie!

To win, leave a comment on this post answering this question: Why does your pet need a Thundershirt? I’ll pick a winner next Thursday! Go!