Resources

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Unlocking Well-Being for Individuals and Teams: The Journey You Own

The Journey You Own is thrilled to announce their introductory online course through Maddie’s University, “The Journey You Own: Practices for Well-Being and Productivity,” designed to support the emotional and mental well-being of individuals.

They understand the immense need to support the people on the front lines of critical mission-driven work. In order to operate with compassion, individuals need to be connected, healthy, and whole. That is why The Journey You Own is offering this free, asynchronous, virtual course, tailored to empower individuals to explore their actions, values, and balance in both their  professional and personal lives as they discover practical strategies to create space, incorporate contemplative practices, and align personal values. 

For leaders of organizations, here’s why promoting this course within your organization will be a game-changer:

  • Reclaim Energy: Are your employees feeling drained by the constant cycle of reactive responses? We understand the importance of maintaining a healthy work-life balance. By incorporating grounding practices into their daily lives, your employees will develop a sense of balance, awareness, and emotional well-being. This will enable them to reclaim their energy and prevent burnout, allowing them to nurture themselves while supporting universal well-being.
  • Boost Productivity: Contrary to popular belief, productivity doesn’t have to come at the expense of personal well-being. By emphasizing the importance of space, interconnectedness, and contemplative practices, our course helps individuals unlock their creative potential, improve focus and clarity, and experience a greater sense of well-being, ultimately leading to increased productivity in both their personal and professional lives. 
  • Develop Wholeness: We all strive to be whole and complete individuals. Our course equips participants with tools to align personal values with their actions and activities, encouraging individuals to accomplish their mission-driven work in ways that are authentic to themselves. By demonstrating the interconnectedness of all beings, our holistic approach cultivates a sense of fulfillment, enhances perspective, and empowers individuals to make choices that resonate with their core beliefs.

Upon completion of this introductory course, your team will emerge with curiosity about incorporating skills to increase space in their lives for creativity, productivity, and growth. Moreover, they will realize the impact of personal values and language on their work and discover the power of contemplative practices.

Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to transform your organization from within. Nurture your employees’ well-being, and watch as they thrive in their work and personal lives. Share The Journey You Own: Practices for Well-Being and Productivity with your employees and unlock the potential within your organization! 

 

by Jyothi Robertson Jyothi Robertson No Comments

Thanksgiving and Your Pets

With Thanksgiving coming up, family all around, and food you only get to eat once a year, it can be tempting to share a special treat with your animals as well as your family. However, there are a great many foods that pets can’t have, especially Thanksgiving themed foods. Here’s a list of things to avoid giving them, so that you or any family members can keep your pet happy and healthy this Thanksgiving season.

Turkey – while lean, plain turkey can often be the protein of choice in many pet foods, make no mistake – the turkey we prepare on Thanksgiving is not a substitute. Basted, brined, buttered, oiled, stuffed, or however you may be preparing it this year introduces many dangerous elements to the turkey meat that dogs and cats can have a very hard time digesting. In some cases of older pets, feeding them high sodium, high fat Thanksgiving turkey can even be a fast track to pancreatitis.

Bones – so if you can’t feed your pets your Turkey, perhaps carving it or the process of making any other Thanksgiving style roast has left you with some nice juicy bones to give your pets as treats. However, it’s likely that roasted bones will splinter as your pet tries to get to the marrow, which can be extremely sharp and dangerous. Another possibility is that if they manage to swallow the bone whole, it can get lodged in their intestines.

Alcohol – the holidays for many can be a time to unwind, enjoy time off work, and have a glass of wine. Sometimes a fingerful of champagne can seem like a nice treat for your pets when everyone is celebrating! Unfortunately, alcohol can lead to ethanol poisoning in pets, which affects them the same as it does humans, but becomes dangerous in much smaller quantities. Even rum cakes or other slightly alcoholic dishes are a bad idea to share with your pet.

Thanksgiving and Your Pets, JVR Shelter Strategies

Pepper eyeing Steel Robertson’s dinner.

Sweets – Most pet owners know that chocolate is dangerous for their fuzzy friends, but there is a whole gamut of sweet treats that pets should be kept from. It helps to remember that the darker the chocolate, the more dangerous, as milk and white chocolate (while still off limits!) contain increasingly greater quantities of milk, diluting the dangerous compound theobromine that makes them sick. Xylitol, a sweetener used in many store bought desserts, can also cause liver failure or a dangerous drop in blood sugar.

Caffeine – caffeine affects pets in the very same way theobromine in chocolate does – this makes it equally as off-limits to your pets as chocolate! It can also cause restlessness, vomiting, spikes in blood pressure, and even seizures.

Onions – most members of the onion family, including green onions / shallots / chives, may be a staple in Thanksgiving flavors, but they all contain thiosulphate, a dangerous compound for animals. It’s important to note that thiosulphate exists within onions even after cooking, and that cooked onions can be just as dangerous as raw.

Grapes – the nature of toxicity of grapes or raisins to dogs is somewhat of a mystery, as the kidney failure that they cause is not yet linked to a certain compound. Even more unsettling, whichever compound causes the kidneys to fail is both acute and sudden in it’s toxicology. A dog could eat a grape, for example, and be perfectly fine, but every time they get ahold of a grape it’s a huge risk to take, and the ASPCA recommends seeking treatment even if they only eat one or a few.

If you’re truly aching to share your Thanksgiving meal with your pet, there are ways to give them plain, lean turkey and unsweetened canned pumpkin properly, but please do your research to make sure that what you’re feeding them doesn’t contain anything harmful.

Thanksgiving and Your Pets, JVR Shelter Strategies

That covers most of the foods unanimously present during Thanksgiving, but it helps to keep in mind that dogs and cats should also not be fed dairy products, avocado, citrus, eggs and anything overly salty. Keep to their regular diet over the holidays and show them love just the same to include them in your festivities!

If you’re looking to up the quality of your pets food, there are home cooked diets that work well for pets. Stay tuned for a larger post soon on what to know about pet food, what to look for when buying, and options for making your own! While we’re working on that, feel free to look here for frequently asked questions about crafting a homemade diet for your pet.

We used a variety of sources to amalgamate the info on this blog post, and if you’d like to browse them, check here, here, and here.

Happy Holidays!

 

by Jyothi Robertson Jyothi Robertson No Comments

Animal Hoarding: Part Two

In this post, I’ll continue my exploration of animal hoarding behavior. I’ll focus specifically on what the veterinary community can do to observe, prevent, and report such behavior.

If you want to stay vigilant about hoarding and contribute to solutions, here are some things to consider and inquire about before supporting an organization or a rescue client:

  • How many animals are currently in the organization?
  • How many animals have been adopted within the last year?
  • What does the animal intake look like on a yearly / monthly basis?
  • What are the average, median and longest length that animals in the organization stay?
  • Do they have a 501c3 and/or a current 990 form?
  • Do they have a Board of Directors and a clear mission statement?
  • Is there a physical location associated with the rescue, and are visitors allowed?
  • Is the rescue foster-based or shelter-based? If shelter, how many employees are there?
  • How are members or fosters selected and screened?
  • What are the adoption and intake processes like?
  • How is their relationship with the local veterinarian and animal control organizations?

Animal Hoarding: Part Two, JVR Shelter Strategies

These questions can give you an insight into the legitimacy of the rescue and if there are any warnings concerning hoarding behavior or connections to clients who hoard.

Of course, the behavior of the owners isn’t the only giveaway. Seeing animals for the following reoccurring problems can be a sign that they aren’t being cared for properly:

  • Matted hair with numerous ectoparasites (fleas and ticks)
  • Overgrown nails
  • Untreated wounds and scars
  • Broken or ground down teeth
  • Lesions from urine scalding
  • Missing fur
  • Ear infections
  • Appearing very dirty and smelling foul

These symptoms can be manifestations of further complications including abscesses, respiratory diseases (often accompanied with coughing and discharge), feral or unsocial behavior, gastrointestinal problems caused by infectious parasites, and even more. All or some of these symptoms in tandem seen across multiple animals could be a clear giveaway to hoarding behavior.

Animal Hoarding: Part Two, JVR Shelter Strategies

After a few visits with clients bringing animals in under these conditions, there are a few extra observable conditions to look out for on their behalf:

  • Their bills add up
  • They keep bringing in animals once without ever following up
  • Multiple animals seen for symptoms listed above
  • Asks for extra medication for other animals in household
  • Will take extreme measures to preserve the animal’s life, even removing from care
  • Claims to have found or received multiple animals in their present condition
  • Vague, avoidant answers

Staying vigilant to these signs can keep those in the veterinary community from enabling hoarding behavior and even actively halting it. The behavior of hoarding is harmful to both client and animal, and taking the time to ask these questions and train on the patterns of behavior help to keep animals happy and safe.

Animal Hoarding: Part Two, JVR Shelter Strategies

by Jyothi Robertson Jyothi Robertson No Comments

Animal Hoarding: Part One

Over the past few months, I have been invited to speak at three national conferences: the Pacific Veterinary Conference in Long Beach, CA; the World Small Animal Veterinary Association Conference in Toronto, Canada; and the American Veterinary Medical Association Conference in Washington D.C. I covered a range of topics that I plan to outline in my upcoming blog posts, starting with the topic of animal hoarding.

In my series of lectures concerning the topic of animal hoarding, I explore several situational definitions and signs to identify and prevent animal hoarding. As veterinarians, we represent the first line of defense against this treatment of animals.

Beginning with how animal hoarding is defined, the situation isn’t always as simple as owning an atypical number of animals. To explore this definition further, we use the acronym FIDO:

  • Failure to provide for the animals in question
  • Inability to recognize this failure and its effects on animals, people, society
  • Denial or minimization of the problem
  • Obsessive persistence to continue to accumulate animals

This was a classic hoarder case not a rescue hoarding with over 170 cats inside the residence. Photo from HSUS.

Being cognizant of these factors will not only help to solve the problem, it’s important to remain vigilant so that we can support our patients, the animals, as well as our clients, especially when the client is not properly caring for their animals.

If encountering animal hoarders and treating their animals seems like an unlikely situation, it may be more likely than you think. A sample taken of 54 cases showed 32 repeat investigations into the owners. The hoarder in question may not seem obvious as well – up to 75% of this sample was shown to be unmarried women, generally well educated with at least some college, and many from caregiving backgrounds. There were a variety of income levels, but many of the sample subjects were on disability, retired, or unemployed. Concerning age, the study saw that most began hoarding in their 30’s, and nearly half were over 60. That said, we now have many cases of very well-educated people in animal hoarding situations.

As the study shows, the profile of a hoarder is not so obvious visually! Next, we will discuss which profile traits of a hoarder we can identify! A preoccupation with animals is a given, but this may take many different forms – usually this preoccupation takes up most of their time and money. There’s an element of companionship that comes with owning one or many pets, but a hoarder has little social contact with others, potentially relying on animal companions instead.

Some reasons as to why people commonly hoard include rescuing them from euthanasia, feeling a special ability to communicate with the animals they surround themselves with, and the traits of pathological altruism intersecting with an unconditional love of animals.

In many cases, these situations and reasons aren’t exclusive from one another. See the venn diagram below to understand how this can manifest:

Animal Hoarding: Part One, JVR Shelter Strategies

Let’s explore some of the hoarder profiles listed above:

Overwhelmed Caregiver – Of the three profiles listed above, the overwhelmed caregiver is usually more firmly rooted in the reality of their situation – and has some awareness of the problem. They acquire animals more passively, and their situation is usually attributed to a change in their circumstance. They may have kept acquiring animals because they are unable to problem solve and are socially isolated and not receiving advice or feedback from others. However, this profile usually has fewer problems with authorities than other cases.

The Exploiter – This type of hoarder usually collects animals based on their use, not because of any empathy or compassion towards them. This can go hand in hand with sociopathic tendencies. They are indifferent to harm caused to the animals and tend to ignore other’s concerns about their behavior. In some cases, this can even be paired with manipulative or cunning behavior to cover up their actions, including a charismatic personality to deflect criticism. Some exploiters even claim to be experts to justify their actions to control the situation.

The Rescuer – This hoarding profile usually comes from a self-driven mission which eventually leads to unavoidable compulsion. The mindset that only they can provide care leads to active acquiring of animals that they are looking to save. In some cases this can be a sign of a bigger emotional disruption, such as a fear of death. As the number of animals acquired rises, they stop being able to rescue and follow up by adopting, leaving rescue only care. The illusion of proactive care in this situation can be enabled by networks of people in similar situations. The resulting echo chamber can fuel delusions and pathological altruism.

Animal Hoarding: Part One, JVR Shelter Strategies

Above, we can see a shift in the trends of causation for these certain profiles of hoarders and where some symptoms of their hoarding hold greater weight comparatively.

In its first revision since 1994, the DSM-5, or Diagnostic Statistics Manual of Mental Disorders, ed. 5, hoarding behavior is now classified as a disorder. Recognizing hoarding is a big step in treating the disorder, as the DSM-5 is a standardized resource for licensed U.S. mental health specialists who can treat its symptoms consistently and at a deeper level. It also allows for comparison between the prevalence of cases, risk factors involved, and the results of different treatment methods.

In Part 2 of my blog series on animal hoarding, I will discuss what we can do as veterinarians to prevent and solve for this behavior.

 

References

Ung JE, Dozier ME, Bratiotis C, Ayers CR. An Exploratory Investigation of Animal Hoarding Symptoms in a Sample of Adults Diagnosed With Hoarding Disorder. J Clin Psychol. 2016;73(9):1114–1125. doi:10.1002/jclp.22417

Frost RO, Patronek G, Rosenfield E. Comparison of object and animal hoardingDepress Anxiety. 2011;28(10):885–891. doi:10.1002/da.20826

Frost, R. O., Patronek, G., Arluke, A., & Steketee, G. (2015). The Hoarding of Animals: An Update. Psychiatric Times. Retrieved from http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/addiction/hoarding‐animals‐update

Frost, R. O., Steketee, G., & Williams, L. (2000). Hoarding: a community health problem. Health & Social Care in the Community, 8, 229–234. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365‐2524.2000.00245.x

Frost, R. O., Tolin, D. F., & Maltby, N. (2010). Insight‐related challenges in the treatment of hoarding. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 17(4), 404–413. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpra.2009.07.004

Levy HC, Worden BL, Gilliam CM, et al. Changes in Saving Cognitions Mediate Hoarding Symptom Change in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Hoarding DisorderJ Obsessive Compuls Relat Disord. 2017;14:112–118. doi:10.1016/j.jocrd.2017.06.008

Lockwood, R. (1994). The psychology of animal collectors. American Animal Hospital Association Trends Magazine, 9, 18–21.

Nathanson, J., & Patronek, G. (2011). Animal hoarding: How the semblance of a benevolent mission becomes actualized as egoism and cruelty. In B. Oakley, A. Knafo, G. Madhavan, & D. Wilson (Eds.), Pathological Alltruism (pp. 107–115). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Patronek, G., Loar, L., & Nathanson, J. (Eds.) (2006). Animal hoarding: Structuring interdisciplinary responses to help people, animals and communities at risk. Boston, MA: Hoarding of Animals Research Consortium.

Patronek, G. (1999). Hoarding of animals: An under‐recognized public health problem in a difficult to study population. Public Health Reports, 114, 82–87. https://doi.org/10.1093/phr/114.1.81

Patronek, G. J., & Nathanson, J. N. (2009). A theoretical perspective to inform assessment and treatment strategies for animal hoarders. Clinical Psychology Review, 29(3), 274–281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2009.01.006

Steketee G, Frost RO, Tolin DF, Rasmussen J, Brown TA. Waitlist-controlled trial of cognitive behavior therapy for hoarding disorderDepress Anxiety. 2010;27(5):476–484. doi:10.1002/da.20673

Reinisch AI. Characteristics of six recent animal hoarding cases in Manitoba. Can Vet J. 2009;50(10):1069–1073.

Reinisch AI. Understanding the human aspects of animal hoarding. Can Vet J. 2008;49(12):1211–1214.

Patronek GJ. Hoarding of animals: an under-recognized public health problem in a difficult-to-study population. Public Health Rep. 1999;114(1):81–87.

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