Your Daily Vegan

A GTs Kombucha lid wrapper is Jahnni’s favorite cat toy. She’s all about reuse and recycle.

“Some of us think holding on makes us strong; but sometimes it is letting go.” ~ Hermann Hesse

Last month, with a heavy heart, I told you about the loss of my soul-dog Olli.  The past 36 days have been filled with great sadness, it’s still so hard to believe that she’s never coming home.  And even though I know it will get better with time, life still seems a little lonelier without her here.

I’ve gotten so many emails, tweets, and cards from people all over.  Some of you have shared your own story of loss, some of you are experiencing loss with me right now.  Those conversations are so precious to me, they help to smooth the ragged edges of my grief.  Thank you for each one.

I also introduced you to Lakini the polydactyl and her medical issues.  Since then, Lakini has seen an internal specialist.  After an ultrasound it has been determined that the her liver is enlarged, with a large cancerous mass growing on it.  They believe that that the mass is not surgically excisable and that there is little they can do to medically treat her condition.  As the mass grows, she will continue to deteriorate.  For now, her symptoms are minimal- the most noticeable is the weight loss.  She’s a mere 6 pounds now.  Still, she seems happy- I’m going to do my best to ensure she remains comfortable and happy for as long we have.  And bombard her with extra love, you know.

Now 11 days after Lakini’s diagnosis my eldest, Gypsy, is sick.  She has been diagnosed with 75% loss of her renal function and now requires weekly fluid treatment.  I don’t know how old Gypsy is, she was found on the streets as an older cat.  The vet estimated that she was around 6-8 years old when I found her, it’s been 12 years now she’s lived with me.  With luck, her weekly fluid treatments will keep her comfortable and stable for many more months (and years) to come.  Fingers crossed.

It’s easy to keep questioning yourself over an over again about every decision you made for the health of those animals when things like this happen, particularly all one on top of another.  I am cautious and careful to provide the proper (and excellent) nutrition to all the girls, as well as providing preventative health care and medical treatment when necessary.  Both my normal veterinarian and the internal specialist have assured me these incidents are tragically random, and I know they’re right, it’s just hard.

Caring for two senior cats who are sick is a (an emotional) challenge, one made worse by the burden of an ever-growing vet tab.  Last month I introduced the YDV Souvenir Shop, our little online t-shirt shop.  I’m selling t-shirts to help raise money.  Perhaps you want to buy one?  I recently added two new designs:

Also, you can feel extra good about purchasing a shirt because I give back!  Each month I’ll select a new charity, rescue group, or sanctuary that cares for the lives of animals to donate to.  I heart fundraising for animals.

This month’s group is We Are Family Animal Rescue and her sister organization, Lasa Sanctuary, both run by Joy Smetzer.

I am a lifelong animal devotee who believes that our loving relationships with them bring out our greatest human potential. I recognize the connectedness of all life and hope to bring this awareness to the forefront of holistic healing and authentic living. I began my animal advocacy at the age of 12, giving speeches on animal testing issues. At 30, I graduated with my BA in Education and went on to found We Are Family Animal Rescue, Inc which continues to work to rescue and adopt companion animals into forever homes. I am currently pursuing my graduate degree in Community Counseling and plan to implement eco-therapeutic programming and experiences into the Sanctuary. Now, a fully committed vegan and advocate for all life, I seek to reach out the arm of compassion and welcome all to experience the ultimate unity of life, love, and joy.

Pretty kick butt, right?  I thought so too.  So, buy a shirt?

Finally, I want to say a special thank you to the 35 people who donated to the FundRazr account.  I am blown away by your generosity, thank you for your kindness.  Thank you to those people who didn’t donate but shared the donation link with other people, I appreciate it.  Thank you all for your compassion and sympathy, you are all wonderful.  So wonderful.

And for those who have asked, the FundRazr will run until March 31, 2012 or until we hit our goal- and thanks to some awesome people, we’re halfway there.

Photo Credit: Tony Northrup

From Even Dairy Farming Has a 1 Percent:

When Bob was a kid, during the Depression, he and his 10 siblings milked the family’s 15 cows by hand and produced 350 pounds’ worth of milk per day. By the time Robert was a teenager, in the 1970s, the farm had grown to 90 cows — all of which were milked automatically through vacuum technology — and sold around 4,000 pounds of milk per day. Now the Fulpers own 135 cows, which produce more than 8,000 pounds of milk.

So the farm should be more lucrative, right? Robert showed me exactly how much money he and his brother made last year, an unusually profitable one for the dairy industry. He asked me not to reveal the number, but let’s put it this way: Robert and Fred start work at 4:30 a.m., finish at 7 p.m. and trade Sundays off. If you divide their 2011 profit by their weekly hours, they earn considerably less than minimum wage.

Which is still considerably better than the 135 mothers that are continually impregnated (because without babies, cows don’t produce milk), only to have their children taken from them, until they no longer can and then- well, you know…

Bob…told me a number of hysterical, unprintable farm jokes during my visit, but he turned pensive when it came to his farm’s future…“You just stay in the cowshed longer, work harder,” he says.

Right.  You just work (the cows- the mothers) harder.

[Fact:  Cows have been known to walk for miles to find their calves.  They call loudly for days (sometimes weeks) after their calves have been taken away from them.  Cows prefer to sleep close to their families- sleeping arrangements are determined by their position in the social hierarchy.  They are able to recognize faces as well as understand cause and effect.]

It’s a two page article in the that talks about dairy farming without mentioning the the most important part: the life that was denied to these cows.

Note. Before you tell me that the original article was not intended to be a discussion on ethics, rather it was meant as a discussion on our economy- thank you, I know.  That is precisely my point.  

Photo: Brian Skerry

Houhora, New Zealand.  Man “finds” a 738-pound Pacific bluefin, or what he’s calling a “fish of a lifetime,” during an recent boating competition.  It could be, if approved by the International Game Fish Association, a world record.  This, replacing a 716-pound Pacific bluefin caught in 2007, also in New Zealand.

He also “found” a 788-pound black marlin, another record breaker, in the same trip and plans to have both sent to a taxidermist for “mounting.”

In other words:

Man goes to the well-known habitat for Pacific bluefin (and marlin) and using all kinds of subterfuge, he ends the entire lifetime of an animal(s).  The 738-pound Pacific bluefin and the 788-pound black marlin, whom judging by size alone were older fish, was then immediately killed for their uniqueness alone.

So, an extraordinary lives were lost for nothing more than “conversation pieces.”  They’re not just fish, they are animals part of a dying ecosystem that we should be protecting. 

Learn more about the Pacific Bluefin Tuna.  They’re beautiful and in trouble. Link

Read more:

Bluefin tuna on way to extinction

EU asks for global ban on Atlantic Bluefin Tuna

This is me and Olli, we met in 2004.

From the moment we saw each other we had a special bond.  It was as if she had always been a part of my life, and I a part of hers.  I was her human, she was my co-pilot- my soul-dog- my very best friend.  Life for the next 8 years was good.

Then one day, Olli got sick.  After more than five emergency vet visits, three different vet doctors (at three separate vet offices), and two exams by two different specialists, Olli was diagnosed with acute renal failure.  Now in grave condition, Olli was hospitalized under the care of an internal specialist.  She remained there for a week.

During that week she had 24-hour care and more medical treatments than I care to list out.  She had an IV pumping fluids through her body continuously in hopes that the toxins built up in her body would be flushed out.  Both of her legs were shaved (to alternate her IVs), along with her chest and neck (for various testing).  And through it all, my little girl was a trooper.

She never snapped at a hands with needles, she didn’t bark at other dogs.  She didn’t complain at the every hour checks, or at the techs who came in to clean her if she had an accident.  Instead, Olli handled herself with grace- offering little licks of encouragement to her vet techs and doctors.  She was, from what I was told, the perfect dog patient.

Olli did not respond to treatment as hoped, still, she was released from the hospital.  She was sent home with IVs and fluids, a bag of medications, and care instructions longer than most novels.  Having to administer IV fluids to her (read: stick a needle under her skin) brought new meaning to the word stress.  Still, I was grateful for every moment we had.  I did not leave her side.  Sadly however, five days after she came home things turned from bad to worse.

On February 3, 2012 Olli passed from this life.  It’s only been a few weeks, it still seems so surreal to me- I can’t believe she’s gone.  I sat down to write this post not really knowing what I was going to say.  It’s hard to find the right words to say how much someone meant to you- how do you explain limitless love?  Put simply, Olli and I spent every possible minute together from the moment we met until the day we said goodbye.

It’s Day 23 today.  I miss the way she felt in my arms when I hugged her.  I miss her constant presence.  I miss the way her nails sounded on the wood floors as she followed me around the house.  I miss morning play time, afternoon walks, and night time snuggling.  I miss the way she would sit and listen to me talk, silently supportive of everything I said.  I miss the way her butt would shake so hard from her tail wagging whenever she would see me.  I miss hearing the sound of her feet scratching at the edge of the chairs when she wanted to be held, and the way she felt curled up in my lap.  I miss everything about her.

And even though I know it will get better with time, life seems a little lonelier without her here.

Lakini is a polydactyl, she has extra toes on each paw.  We first met in Kansas fourteen years ago and she’s traveled with me to every state I’ve lived since.  Lakini is the cat that sleeps in my hair at night, she’s the one who sits on the side of the tub when I take a bath, and she’s the one who is always sitting right behind me no matter where I’m sitting.  She’s my soul-cat like Olli was my soul-dog.

Recently, Lakini had lost quite a bit of weight.  She’s had a few tests at this point: bloodwork, physical exam, and x-rays.  All three of her liver levels are highly elevated.  The x-ray shows problems with her liver and stomach, but more tests are needed to determine exactly what is going on.  She has an appointment with an internal specialist (the same one who treated Olli incidentally) for an ultrasound.  I’ve been advised that it could be cancer. I’m crossing my fingers it’s not.

Olli’s illness and Lakini’s sickness has left me financially challenged.  At this time I owe more than $5,500 in veterinary bills, with more charges to come.  I am now asking for your support.   I am selling tshirts and such to help raise money.  Perhaps you’d like to buy one?  They’re pretty cool, there’s several designs- plus, I’ll add more regularly.  I will also be donating a portion of proceeds to charities that care for the lives of animals.  Each month, 10% of the proceeds will be donated to one charity- with a new charity selected every month.  Please head on over to the YDV Souvenir Shop and buy a shirt (or two).

Every action counts, I’ve always thought,- no matter the size.  In that spirit, I’ve also opened a FundRazr account for direct donations.  If you are able, please consider making a small donation.  The cost of a latte perhaps?  Every donation, large or small, helps.  I am humbled that you would consider donating, I appreciate it more than I can say.  All of the donations will go directly to pay for Olli and Lakini’s medical expenses. Thank You for your thoughtful consideration.

As a show of my gratitude and to thank you for your general awesomeness, YDV is going to be doing a series of giveaways.  I’m calling it our Gratitude Giveaways.  I’ve had some amazing folks step up and donate a vegan product or service for some lucky winners to enjoy, lucky you ;)

Just for the record, you do not have to donate anything or buy anything to enter any of the giveaways.  You don’t have to do anything more than enter.  If you aren’t able to purchase a shirt or donate I understand.  I do ask this, please consider helping in other ways like sharing it on facebook, twitter, or pinning your favorite tshirt design.  I can’t do this without your help.

If you’ve read this whole post you deserve a vegan cookie, seriously- thank you.  Now head on over to Gratitude Giveaway and enter for some awesome vegan stuff.

Huffington Post Green* published an article titled, The Real Veal: Sourcing and Cooking Humanely-Raised Veal, penned by chef Kurt Michael Friese.  And good gravy, this article is a mess.

Friese makes the claim that one can still eat veal (baby calves) and still maintain your ethics (which ones he doesn’t specify).  The premise of his argument seems to be that if the veal (baby calves) are raised happily and at their parents side, then it’s okay to slaughter them for food.

I’ve talked about the oxymoron of happy meat before so I won’t go into that here.  The fact is, the longest that veal (baby calves) can expect to live happily next to their parents side is approximately 35 weeks- or, nearly 9 months.  The average time veal (baby calves) is kept alive is 24-26 weeks.  After that they are sent to slaughter.  That’s the best case scenario.  In some cases (1 million cases a year) veal, such as bob veal, are slaughtered at 5 days old.

“Every year 1 million five-day old calves are slaughtered to supply the veal market.”

The veal industry is a direct result of the dairy industry.  Like other mammals, a cow will only produce milk once she’s given birth.  In order to get a continuous supply of milk, farmers will repeatedly impregnate dairy cows (in high and unnatural cycles) to keep them producing milk- for their babies, which we take away to be used as veal.  Meanwhile the mother of the calf cries and searches for her lost young.  Just like a human would if a human lost her child.

I don’t see how any of that is ethical.  But Friese has the answer for that too.  In the comments he wrote:

Nature most certainly DID intend on having these and countless other “babies” taken from their mothers sides and killed for food. All predators do that. It’s just that most are not kind enough to let them have any semblance of a content and pain free life before they are taken.

I am a human, a member of the animal kingdom. I consider myself no better or worse, more or less important than any other animal. My body is designed to be an omnivore and so that’s what I am. I have no problem whatsoever with those of you who choose not to eat veal or to be vegetarian, or to be vegan. Good on ya, your life, do what you want. But I reject out of hand the constant berating I receive from evangelica­l vegans who believe I and a majority of the human race are hellspawn because we eat meat. It just ain’t so.

Look, in order for anyone to live, something has to die. You cannot prove that an animal has a “soul” or some such, just as you cannot prove that a plant does not. Unless we are going to reject ten millennia of agricultur­e and forage for all our food, we are going to raise that food ourselves on farms. We should treat it well, and then we should harvest it, so that we can feed our families and our communitie­s, whether that food is from the plant or animal kingdoms.

So there you have it.  Since we can’t prove that cows have a soul, we can pretty much do whatever the hell we want to them.  You’re just being evangelical to oppose such a thing.  And the most ironic part?  Friese telling us to treat the animals well.  If we were really treating the animals well, we would stop forcing repeated pregnancies on animals only to take the resulting children away and slaughtering them.  Further, humans aren’t predators when they breed, raise, and slaughter domesticated animals in captivity for food.

And just because- “soul” is defined as, “the spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal, regarded as immortal.”

*Running a pro-animal agribusiness piece on Huffington Post Green is ironic given that everyone knows by now that raising animals for food is one of the worst environmentally destructive things we are (still) doing today.

Zhu Jianqiang | Photo: Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

2008.  Out of the rubble of a 8.0 magnitude earthquake in Sichuan province came a hero.  A badly injured, 110-pound pig named Zhu Jianqiang- which means, Strong-Willed Pig.  [Of course, that's just the name he was given by his rescuers, we've no idea what he was called prior to- probably #185 or some other such thing.]

The pig was apparently trapped in a collapsed farm shed and survived under the rubble for 36 days, eating nothing but charcoal and rainwater.  The Chinese state media even celebrated the pig as the country’s most inspirational animal in 2008.  His picture was everywhere, he was famous.  He was even given his own 10-year life insurance policy.  Then the farmers who owned the pig sold him to a museum, to be placed on exhibit.

From The Lede:

He was voted China’s most inspirational animal in a poll on Red Net, an online forum and news site, according to China Daily.  China Daily said this was the second straight victory for a pig: Last year’s winner was a sow that fought off a butcher trying to slaughter its “husband.”

[But] One of his handlers, quoted by the newspaper, said the pig had become cranky, fat and lazy in his celebrity, unwilling even to walk around his pen or raise its snout for pictures.  The pig, the handler said, “has developed a temper that many of its fans may not want to see.”

Vegan thought:  The pig was lauded a hero because the pig did what he had to do in order to survive. The pig wanted to live. Why are we amazed that these animals want a life beyond servitude to us?

Anyway, so how do the Chinese treat their hero’s?  At the equivalent of sixty human years of age, Zhu was cloned to produce six piglets.

From BBC News:

“The wonderful pig surprised us again,” Du Yutao, the head of the cloning project, told the Sunday Morning Post.

The newspaper says the piglets bear a striking resemblance to their dad – with a birthmark between their eyes.  They are likely to be paired off and sent to a museum and a genetic institute.

Let’s recap.  The Chinese find it inspirational that a pig wanted to live (and not die) so they made him a hero- after: he’s sold, renamed, and put to work in an exhibit where he has displayed stress and anger.  Then, this “wonderful pig” was cloned [how many times before it took?] with no chance of seeing his offspring as they’re being shipped out to a museum or genetic institute.

Makes you wonder how they treat animals they don’t like.

American House Spideris rarely bothers humans. They may opt to 'play dead' if threatened.

I feel bad for insects. Of all the animals on the planet, the insects have less people on their side so-to-speak. In fact, tell someone that, as a vegan, you advocate the “trap and release” method to deal with common household bugs- they’ll think you’re nuts. I wrote a piece in 2009 on spiders, mentioning that they are sentient and deserved respect, and I was bombarded with comments from people who thought I went mad.

An Annual Cicada is harmless to humans.

Insects are totally amazing.  Sure, some can be a bit creepy looking- but beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  Insects out number human populations by huge numbers.  At any given time there are ten quintillion (10,000,000,000,000,000,000) insects alive, whereas the current global population of humans is around six billion (6,000,000,000).  That’s a lot of bugs.

Certain types of grasshoppers and crickets have their ears on their front legs.

Did you know that:

• Houseflies find sugar with their feet, which are 10 million times more sensitive than human tongues.
• Wasps feeding on fermenting juice have been known to get “drunk’ and pass out.
• To survive the cold of winter months, many insects replace their body water with a chemical called glycerol, which acts as an “antifreeze” against the temperatures.
• Ants can lift and carry more than fifty times their own weight
• All insects are bugs but not all bugs are insects. An Insect has three body parts; a head, thorax, and abdomen. Insects have six legs and two antennae.
• Scientists recently discovered that insects such as cockroaches and honeybees make collective decisions and use voting and quorums to help decide where to make their next home.

The word "mantis" comes from the Greek word meaning prophet.

There is no shortage of amazing facts on insects, I could never list them all.  Still, I’m not going to sit here and tell you I love bugs.  I do a ‘scream and duck’ when I see a bee- but that’s more “allergy” influencing me than real fear.  But as a whole, I respect the insects.  They are animals, after all.  I need them to help sustain life on this planet.  They’re integral to the inner workings and do things I would never do like- consume dung, help break down decaying matter, and so on.  Although, even if I didn’t benefit from them, I’d still treat them as individuals with their own interests.  I do my best to coexist with them.  I’m not saying I want to live with bugs, don’t misunderstand me- I’m just saying I don’t try to kill them when I find them.

A praying mantis is the only animal that turn it's head 360 degrees.

I take extra measures to ensure I don’t invite them in my home and my resident spiders help keep any invaders at bay.  For the most part, it works.  If I’m absolutely forced to, I’ll remove the insect via the catch-and-release method.

Photo Op: Peace with the Leafhopper

I have my veganism to thank for my views on insects.  I’m much more aware of the creatures I share the planet with, more aware of their plights.  Insects are more beautiful and fascinating than they get credit for.

Gratitude to Encyclopedia Smithsonian for the bug facts and to the bugs for visiting my home this past week for their photography sessions.