Category Archive

One of the Aw/F members brought this to our attention recently:

Thanks to my new ipod, I recently discovered a program called Pet Life Radio. The programs are quite interesting and cover a wide variety of topics.

Anyway, tonight on the “vet” program there was a story about a company called Allerca making hypoallergenic cats. I personally, found the whole thing rather bizarre. The “top of the line” cat is not only hypoallergenic but is a mix of two exotic breeds. It only costs $28,000. He said many of the
cats, including the cheaper ones, are “sold out.” And dog lovers don’t worry. Apparently they are “making” hypoallergenic dogs for 2009.

Here is a short news story about a cat in Canada who went for an unintentional Christmas road trip.

A cat that stowed away inside a transport truck during a run from New Brunswick to central Newfoundland is headed back home. The cat - nicknamed “Trucker” by staff at the SPCA shelter in Gander - had hitched a ride with an unsuspecting truck driver two weeks ago. The driver took the cat to the SPCA in the town after discovering the animal among his cargo.

Read the full story.

I understand the importance of genetic research, but I do wish we could learn about ourselves without inflicting harm on the animal world.

I mean, I understand that it is important for us to learn how to treat human genetic diseases, but when a side product of that research is glow-in-the-dark cats…

And the nature vs. nurture argument certainly bears investigation, but when that leads to fearless mice…

I suppose these are two examples where the animals themselves are not necessarily being harmed, but they still make me feel uneasy.

Yesterday, we posted an article about how a dog had kept a lost, elderly woman warm throughout the night. The link to the article on the Japan Today site included a number of readers’ comments which were, on the whole, dismaying, as many of them seemed to be more interested in trying to make cynical jokes (thus revealing their age, or rather, lack of it).

That’s really ironic, if you look at the etymology of “cynic.” (I’m an incurable etymologist!) Webster’s says: “a person who believes that only selfishness motivates human actions and who disbelieves in or minimizes selfless acts or disinterested points of view.”

The American Heritage dictionary adds: “A person whose outlook is scornfully and often habitually negative.” (In my observation this is a style that often starts in the teenage years (especially with boys) as an attempt at building individuality. Unfortunately some people never grow out of it.)

The word “cynic” derives from the name of a fourth-century B.C.E. sect of Greek philosophers, the Cynics. They believed, according to Webster’s, “that virtue is the only good, that the essence of virtue is self-control, and that surrender to any external influence is beneath human dignity.” This sounds fairly reasonable (though the third principle sounds like it could verge on raw egotism; more about that later).

So how did “cynical” get its present meaning of “faultfinder”? That’s even more ironic, if a little obscure. The dictionary says that the Greek word kunikos, from which cynic comes, was originally an adjective meaning “doglike,” from kun, “dog.”

What’s the connection with dogs?? Apparently a well-known member was so disdainful of deferring to others’ views on personal behavior that he won a reputation of “acting like a dog” — and the nickname of “Dog” — by doing such things as barking in public, urinating on a table leg, and so on! (At least with real dogs that’s natural and has no ulterior meaning…)

The connotation of “faultfinder”, then, apparently came from the behavior of Cynics, who — naturally believing their _own_ actions virtuous — never hesitated to point out what they considered the faults of others.

So it’s ironic that these self-styled _cynics_ disdain this article about a virtuous _dog_ saving an old woman.

Another aspect of the dog’s role in this style of expression is found in the word “sarcasm”. It also derives from the Greek. (There used to be a saying, “The Greeks had a word for it,” and it seems they really did create a remarkable vocabulary that has persisted for millennia. How different the world would be now, if they’d had TV, iPods, and video games…)

“Sarcasm” is defined as “a cutting, often ironic remark intended to wound or make its victim the butt of contempt or ridicule.” (Note that many Japanese speakers — and others — use “cynical” when they really mean “ironic”. “Cynical” focuses on considering all [others'] actions to be selfishly motivated; “ironic” refers to incongruity between expected and actual; and “sarcastic” focuses on the desire to hurt others.)

In a dictionary I consulted many years ago, the root of “sarcasm” is the Greek “sarkazein”, which means “to tear the skin off in strips, like a dog.” So here we could say that by using sarcasm, the negative commenters on this article are themselves acting like dogs (the dark side of dogdom, that is).

One last note… Contributor “beelzebub” comments “that’s how Three Dog Night got their name.” I think he’s right (and possibly Australian; the two are not mutually exclusive [just kidding!]).

A couple of decades ago I went on a spree of reading books about “indigenous Australians” (formerly: “Aborigines”). Originally nomadic, these people kept dogs for hunting and as companions. Cold winter nights were described in terms of how many dogs you needed to have sleeping with you in order to keep warm; the highest number was three. (Evidently that night in Ibaraki was just a “one-dog night” — but cold enough, nonetheless.)

Researching this on the Internet, I found confirmation at the Wikipedia page devoted to the Los Angeles-based rock group Three Dog Night (maybe claiming to be “the coolest?). Their heyday was 1968-1975 but they are still touring, even this year. And from there, another link mentioned that Eskimos — or rather, Inuit peoples — also use this same index. All of which supports the idea of letting pets sleep on your bed.

And now it’s time to end this dogged pursuit of cynics and canines, and go feed Momo. Though only one cat, as “my futon ferret” she wriggles under the covers, doing her best to insulate against the winter chill.

Here is a heartwarming story, if ever there was one! A 73-year-old Japanese woman who went missing from her home in Ibaraki Prefecture made it through a freezing cold night with the help of a lost dog.

She is believed to have stayed outside overnight with the dog. “Her life was probably saved by the body heat of the dog,” a police officer said, pointing out that she was wearing only a thin sweater and a jacket. According to a local meteorological observatory, the lowest temperature Wednesday night around the area plunged into the sub-zero level. The male dog does not belong to the woman but seemed very attached to her, police said.

>>Read the rest of the article.

The dog, whose name is “Ushi” — which means “cow” in Japanese — has since been reunited with his owners. (See a picture of Ushi in this Japanese article.)

An Aw/F member found this article about lead in pet toys. She says:

I have been checking toys at stores here in a Japan and almost all are made in China. There is a Mr. Pet brand which seems to be affiliated with the US brands Kong and Nylabone. Both of those are made in the US. I also found one latex squeaky toy made in Spain and another made in Malaysia. All others are from China. I am referring to dog toys here because I don’t have any cats. I would love to know how we could have toys here tested for lead and other deadly chemicals.

Do any of our readers know how we can test pet toys for lead in Japan (or anywhere else)?