MAD SCIENCE

A story about a French Bulldog.

Thank you to ever yone who had to deal with my crazy self whilst I made this! I am so proud of this piece but I'm even happier that it's finally done!

Heat stroke

Aspiration pneumonia

Lifelong allergies

Lifelong breathing through a straw or tiny pinholes due to a narrow windpipe or extremely small nostrils

Regular regurgitation and vomiting

Chronic diarrhea

Paralysis

Bladder or bowel incontinence

Joint injuries

Corneal ulcers

Chronic facial fold infections

Chronic tail fold infections

And more, often starting by age 1 or 2. These dogs are often grateful when they are intubated for surgery and will stay awake with a breathing tube down their throat for an hour after we could have removed the tube in another dog. It is so sad to see a dog who wants to play and be silly and clownish and happy be sidelined or struggle or get hurt because of the limitations humans have created in their bodies. Or so sad to see an owner unable to treat their dog because they have spent so much money on their health problems already.

https://wheelofnames.com/bff-wrs

I use 5calls.org which makes it pretty easy. I've been calling and bothering my reps basically every day since January because it makes me feel slightly better. Today, it's essential we flood the phones. Don't make this easy on them. Make your voice heard!

This could wind up quadrupling my current income-based payment, which would result in nearly a full paycheck just to loans every month. That’s just me, and I could survive it… but anyone doing an internship right now? Anyone trying to get into veterinary or medical school without independently wealthy family? Anyone repaying loans on their own without a partner or with a rural job?

DOGE just froze funding to vital Federal and Indigenous conservation programs devoted to supporting the very delicate and tenuous existence of the black-footed ferret.

I fell in love with these animals as a kid traveling to our National Parks. Their rarity and ferocity made me sharply aware, even as a child, of just how much of a responsibility we have toward our environment. I can't bear the thought of them being a fucking casualty of Trump and Musk.

Please feed your cats cooked diets, whether canned, kibble or fresh cooked. If you are absolutely dead set on feeding a raw diet, switch to fish, pork, or other non-poultry/non-beef based diets! And nobody should be drinking raw milk, animal or human. Avian influenza is only one of many pathogens that can be found in unpasteurized milk, it’s just not worth the risk.

Indoor cats died of influenza after exposure to raw milk or raw diets

Bird flu from cat food? What to know to protect your pets : Shots - Health News

SHIT.

Instead of the tail being outside the body, it's curled back in on itself forming a giant, tight pocket of skin that completely prevents any of the tail being seen.

This is a breeding ground for bacteria as it builds up moisture, shed fur, dead skin cells and skin oils.

And like talesfromtreatment said, the surgery has a high risk of complications, like fecal incontinence. Just another reason why I don't like bulldogs.

Here's a before and after of the surgery too, as a treat (not my photos)

The Bronx Zoo has just released Flaco's necropsy results.

He was not thriving, as the people championing the ideal of "freedom" claimed.

He was poisoned.

He was sick.

He was suffering.

"Freedom" would have eventually killed him. A building just happened to do it first.

"Postmortem testing has been completed for Flaco, the Eurasian eagle owl that was found down in the courtyard of a Manhattan building a little over a year after his enclosure at the Central Park Zoo was vandalized on February 2, 2023. Onlookers reported that Flaco had flown into a building on the Upper West Side of Manhattan on February 23, 2024, and acute trauma was found at necropsy. Bronx Zoo veterinary pathologists determined that in addition to the traumatic injuries, Flaco had two significant underlying conditions. He had a severe pigeon herpesvirus from eating feral pigeons that had become part of his diet, and exposure to four different anticoagulant rodenticides that are commonly used for rat control in New York City. These factors would have been debilitating and ultimately fatal, even without a traumatic injury, and may have predisposed him to flying into or falling from the building. The identified herpesvirus can be carried by healthy pigeons but may cause fatal disease in birds of prey including owls infected by eating pigeons. This virus has been previously found in New York City pigeons and owls. In Flaco’s case, the viral infection caused severe tissue damage and inflammation in many organs, including the spleen, liver, gastrointestinal tract, bone marrow, and brain.   No other contributing factors were identified through the extensive testing that was performed. Flaco’s severe illness and death are ultimately attributed to a combination of factors—infectious disease, toxin exposures, and traumatic injuries—that underscore the hazards faced by wild birds, especially in an urban setting."

The naturalistic fallacy kills animals in horrible ways. The romanticism of what humans want to think of as a "free, wild, pure life" cannot be allowed supplant the reality of injury, sickness, and death. Releasing captive animals (or keeping them from being recaptured) because it's "better" for them to suffer untethered than live a healthy, safe, captive life is inhumane and horrific.

Flaco's life didn't have to end in pain, sickness, and suffering.

Flaco's death didn't have to be tragic.

One thing I’m touching on is the importance of supporting and welcoming real service dog teams. People sneaking their pets in / pretending ESAs are service dogs is becoming a real problem, and the general reflex I’m seeing in the industry is to just make it harder for anyone with a dog, so I want to ask the audience to think about that a little and consider other approaches to solving the problem.

I’d like to include a collage of photos of well-behaved service dogs at zoos and aquariums to help reinforce the point. Which means it’s photo request time! If you’ve got a photo of you / your service dog clearly at a zoo, aquarium, or other similar facility and would be willing to let me use it in this presentation, please chat/ask/email me (whyanimalsdothething @ gmail). I’m happy to block out human faces.