Dr. Joyce Starr: How to Look after Your Pet in a Recession.

My guest is Marc Abraham, award-winning British veterinary surgeon. Show date: February 11, 2009 at 5:00 pm EST on the Rights Radio Power Hour.

Marc Abraham is passionate about pets – as well as all aspects of the pet industry – especially value-for-money, customer service and businesses that pride themselves on putting your pet first, not profit.

Where/When/How: This show aired live on February 11, 2009 at 5:00 pm EST.  Listen to the streaming replay at the bottom of this page.

Pet Emergency Plan Will your pet be left alone when emergency strikes? Plan ahead! www.SOSPaws.com

We address many vital issues on this show:

How to best look after your pet in a credit crunch/recession – detecting health problems in your pet before it is too late, preventative health care and its importance (vaccinations, cleaning teeth, pet insurance), money-saving tips;

Traveling with your pet – very popular now for many reasons – no boarding kennel fees, more dog-friendly hotels, risk of terrorism/carbon footprints;

Microchipping – what is it and is it safe to microchip your pets? Why collars not enough? Why you shouldn’t put your pet’s name on their collar;

The plight of animals in rescue centers and how/why they arrived there? (e.g. Save a Pet Florida (www.saveapet.com) vs euthanasia shelters;

Puppy mills – very controversial, even featured on Oprah recently, pet shop puppies;

Alternatives to owning a pet: Never hire pets – animal welfare issue.

Dog walking/fostering/volunteering/pet-sitting business at rescue homes are great ideas. (Message: Adopt a rescue pet!)

Donkeys. As a volunteer in the West Bank with the British charity Safe Haven for Donkeys in the Holy Land (SHADH), Marc witnessed how animals can successfully promote global philanthropy; i.e. how the world’s s0-called ‘most stupid animal’ can achieve what learned and educated world leaders have failed to do.

Choose a pet that’s right for you/your family/lifestyle & commitment.

PREPARE FOR EMERGENCIES! PROTECT YOUR PET with theSOS PAWS Pet Emergency Plan!

To your pet’s empowerment!

Dr. Joyce Starr

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Rights Radio Power Hour: Critical Software for Hard Drive Backups

How and When to Backup Your Hard Drives/ External Drives and Prevent the Loss of Critical Data.

Novastor CTO Christopher Harvey was my guest on the Rights Radio Self Help Hour on January 22, 2009. Novastor (Novastor.com) is an award-winning global leader in data backup protection software.

Only 15 percent of computer users backup their data, and only 15 percent of this wise minority do so in way that can truly backup their data! If you want to avoid the shock and acute stress of sudden hard disk drive and/or external disk drive failures, listen to the replay of this show below.

I found my solution a week too late: AFTER my external drive expired to Drive Heaven. My subsequent search for drive backup software was exhausting, frustrating and confusing.  Relatively few backup software sites make it easy to reach LIVE customer support, offer free technical support to the new user or respond to emails.

Then  I found Novastor.com. With a single download and a brief conversation with an extremely “supportive” technical specialist, bricks of data despair were lifted from my shoulders. Here are just a few of the questions touched upon during my interview with Christopher Harvey:

• Why do I need to purchase backup software?  Doesn’t Windows already include a backup application?
• How often do I need to backup?
• My Accounting and CRM application are always running and cannot be shutdown to do a backup.  How can I protect this critical data?
• Why do I need image-backup when all that is important to me is my data?
• What is “Online” or “Remote” Backup and why do I need it?

During my backup software research, I learned that external drives begin to die the day they’re born and 40 percent of all data loss is due to hardware failure.  Recovering the information won’t work without your programs and operating system, while trying to rebuild a system from scratch is perilous – you never get back to where you were.

And here’s another insider “secret”:  Most backup solutions will not work when your computer takes over a drive letter.  If you don’t understand what that means, contact Novastor!

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To your data protection!

Dr. Joyce Starr

Body Detox – How to Kickstart Your Diet, Lose Weight & Detoxify Your Body

Rights Radio features Puristat’s formula for cleansing your body, losing weight and restoring lost vitality – January 14, 2009 at 5:00 pm EST.

Is a colon cleansing, liver detox the best health insurance?

Topic: How much is your health worth? How much would you pay for health insurance if it could guarantee you a longer, healthier, happier life with fewer medical problems? If you are one of those lucky people, blessed with good genes and great health, you may have never used a colon cleanse, or even taken a multivitamin.

Without loss of wellness, you may not realize your health is your most precious, priceless possession. Lose it, and very little else in life matters except having enough resources, support and luck to get it back.

Puristat helps insure health and reverse/prevent illness through education, internal cleansing and ongoing maintenance. The average person has 5 to 25 pounds of impacted waste in their colon! Puristat make it possible to accomplish an extended colon detoxification program in seven days – versus the one-to-six month program you will soon forget to follow.

Guest: Vickie Cole, RRN, CLNC, IAFN, Puristat’s Digestive Wellness expert, holds a degree in nursing with specialized training in Clinical Nutrition and Forensics. A Certified Legal Nurse Consultant, and a member of the International Association of Forensic Nurses, she has more than five years of experience in labor delivery, five years in forensics, and a specialization in oncological nursing that includes three years at a prestigious medical center in Texas. She was instrumental in the development of the customer care department at Puristat, and is proud to be putting her experience and education to use to help people realize optimum health.

Nurse Vicki will answer vital health questions, including:

• Do cleansings help fight fatigue?
• Is cleansing effective for parasite removal?
• Do I have to change my diet while cleansing?
• What negative side effects, if any might I experience while cleansing?
• How do I know if I am gluten intolerant?

Don’t miss this show!

WHERE/WHEN? The show aired LIVE on Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at at 5:00 PM EST, Wednesday. To hear the streaming replay, click the play arrow below.

To your health!

Dr. Joyce Starr

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Florida Condo Owners Association Rights Legislation

Topic: 2008 Florida legislation further protects condo owner association rights – Changes to Florida Condo Act FS 718 herald enhanced association safeguards for condo dwellers. Show date: July 2, 2008.

The State of Florida passed legislation in 2008 that further protects condo owner rights. Our featured guest spearheaded this legislation. He’s at the forefront of the homeowner rights consumer reform movement in Florida, including “drawing-board” legislation that will protect the rights of homeowners associations HOA members.

Guest : Honorable Julio Robaina was the first Hispanic elected commissioner of the City of South Miami and the first Hispanic Mayor of the City of South Miami. Under his stewardship, the City of South Miami was named one of the top ten cities in the United States in 2001 and received the honor of being named “All-America City” by the National Civic League amongst approximately 600 cities and counties that compete yearly.

Representative Robaina was elected to serve District 117 of the Florida House of Representatives on November 5, 2002. During the legislative term of 2002-2004, he was assigned chair of the Select Committee on Condominium Association Governance, and vice chair of Local Government & Veterans Affairs. He served on several committees including: Business Regulation, Health Care, Transportation, Select Committee on Florida’s Economic Future, Select Committee to Protect Private Property Rights and the Subcommittee on Energy. The Representative also served as the Vice Chair of the Miami-Dade Legislative Delegation in 2005.

He is currently serving on the following committees: Health Quality, Government Efficiency & Accountability Council and serves as Chair of Urban & Local Affairs. He also is currently serving as the Chairman of the Select Committee on Condominium and Homeowner’s Association Governance.

Click here to learn more about your condo & HOA rights.

Homeless Cats: How to Bring Care and Comfort.

Our March 5, 2008 show: The Homeless Cat – Born Wild or Wild by Loss. One woman’s crusade to bring care and comfort to homeless and feral cats.

What if disaster strikes and your protected pet is suddenly transformed into a terrified, homeless cat?

My guest, Lindsay Donzanti, is an organizer and marathon participant for Adopt a Stray (found in Petsmart) and The Cat Network, Inc. Lindsay raises funds for low-cost certificates for spaying and neutering. Lindsay saves hundreds of cats every year through her personal efforts to feed and care for stray cats. She’s a woman with a huge heart.

We’re pleased to provide the complete interview below.

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Welcome Lindsay!

Hello Joyce, thank you for such a lofty introduction. I realize that there
are many, many people out there that do far more than I. Nevertheless I’m very
happy to be here and speak for all the homeless, lonely cats out there. These
cats are either born feral or through very unfortunate circumstances, become
homeless.

Q: What exactly do you mean by that?

Feral cats are born wild, outside and are never touched by humans; while homeless
cats become homeless perhaps just because they ran away from home, perhaps
they were frightened or the door was left open and their curiosity got the
better of them or, in some cases, their owners that no longer wanted them dumped
them, perhaps thinking ‘Oh, I’ve seen some cats on the golf course or the park
and they seem fine. I’ll leave my cat there as I know someone’s feeding them’.
This even happens to declawed cats, whose life expectancy can be counted in
days rather than years under these circumstances.

The very sad truth is that more often than not, the cats already in the colony
will not accept an interloper. I can’t tell you why, but I can tell you that
I’ve seen this first hand on quite a few occasions; where the cats are beaten
up and not allowed to eat the food that’s there and they’re ostracized. In
cases like this, they will probably starve to death or, in desperation, try
to find their way home and be killed by a car.

Q: How did you get into this?

A: Actually, Joyce, I came by this honestly as my mother in England was an
animal lover and it’s hard to think of a time when we didn’t have a cat. All
of the cats invited into our family home were, at one time, strays. I’ve been
in the U.S. for 25 years and, for some reason, I started discovering colonies
in parks and on the beach and couldn’t resist feeding them. I started trapping
cats on the golf course where I live.

I would trap a cat during the wee small hours; take them back to my terrace
and then early in the morning take them to the vet, have them either spayed,
neutered and in many cases aborted.

One night a friend and I trapped a tiny cat and all night I couldn’t sleep,
worrying that she was so tiny the vet would refuse to operate
on her due to her not being the required 2.5 lbs., and how would I ever entice
her back into the trap at a later date? Imagine my surprise and horror to be
told that they had aborted 5 kittens from this tiny little thing!

After the operation, I would take the cat back to my house and keep them overnight
or longer depending on the severity of the operation – male vs female. During
this time, I would try my hardest to find them a home and, on many occasions,
I was successful but I have now officially run out of friends who are willing
to have more cats foisted off on them. So, in that instance, the cat goes back
to their original location where I continue to feed them.

PROTECT YOUR PET with the SOS PAWS Pet Emergency Plan!

Q: Do you have statistics on homeless cats?

A: Yes, as a matter of fact I do and it’s quite alarming and unbelievable.
The breeding capability of cats varies upon conditions. But animal advocates
say one pair of cats – little by little – could conceivably produce 420,000
kittens in seven years. I know that sounds hard to believe, I hardly believed
it myself until I did the math.

Feral cats usually have three litters per year with 4-6 kittens.
Let’s say half of these are females who, at 6 months or earlier,
are producing at the same rate and they have 4-6 kittens three times per year,
etc., etc., and now you can see where they get this alarming statistic.

Additionally, 3-4 million cats & dogs are euthanized each year in the U.S.
by the Humane Societies. Those are the lucky ones and I say lucky in quotes
of course because they are the ones that don’t meet their deaths by starvation,
disease, being run over etc. etc.

I was recently appalled to hear that in the city of Joplin, MO, an ordinance
has now been passed forbidding citizens from feeding the homeless cats in the
hope that they will all starve to death and thereby solve their feral cat problem.
I in fact wrote to all the City Fathers and sent a letter to the Joplin Globe
likening this tactic to an animal holocaust.

Q: How else might they solve this problem?

A: I’ll give you perfect example: I worked for the City of Sunny Isles Beach
which had a TNR program. To those listeners that might not know what this is – TNR
stands for trap neuter release. A lot of my friends are lucky enough to live
in such a progressive city such as Sunny Isles Beach because they can get free
coupons for the sterilization all they have to do is trap the cats and take
them to the vets, which they are very happy to do.

There are organizations such as Cat Network that offers these coupons to the
public for $25 each which can be used in a network of wonderful, animal-loving
as opposed to money-loving vets who perform this operation at what I suspect is a loss.

In this case, Cat Network pays a little extra towards this operation. Perhaps Joplin could
raise money for this humanitarian project instead of approaching this in such
a cold, heartless manner. How can anyone stand by and watch anything starve – it’s
truly a cruel death. Think about it!

PROTECT YOUR PET with the SOS PAWS Pet Emergency Plan!

Q: What can the average listener do to help?

A: I realize that creeping around at midnight trapping cats might not appeal
to everyone. My friends and I do it because we feel compelled and we are physically
and emotionally able. I do realize that others don’t feel this way but, boy,
can they help. You can, of course, donate money; volunteer at your local human
society or animal adoption agency; and you can help someone who help animals
such as myself. I can tell you that if it weren’t for the generosity of others,
I would not be in a position to do all that I do because I can’t do it all.
All three traps that I now own were donated to me. The auto tag agencies have
a spay & neuter license plate which will cost only $25 extra per year – this
money goes to various agencies who promote this spaying and neutering.

Q: How do you pay for all of this loving care?

A: My husband and I pay for the food and, in the past when I worked, the neutering
as well. Now, however, I, in part depend on others. Last year and again this
year, I entered the Miami Marathon and I asked my generous friends to sponsor
me. The first year I donated almost $1,000 to Adopt-A-Stray which is a wonderful,
no kill adoption agency located in Petsmart close to home. The next year I
decided to buy the $25 certificates directly from Cat Network and, at this
moment, with the help of my friends, I am working my way steadily through this
- one cat at a time!!

For example, I would like to make an appeal for a very special little cat by
the name of Stevie (as in Stevie Wonder) as this poor soul is blind. He (or
she) lives in a very busy parking lot in a strip mall that is slated to be
demolished shortly. If there’s anyone out there who would be willing to give
this cat a home and a chance at life, it would be a truly unselfish act.

Stevie is not the sweetest cat at the moment because he’s terrified – but he’s that
way for a good reason – he wanders around his small area, hearing cars rushing
towards him waiting for us to come feed him. We never know if he’s going to
be alive when we get there – so, please, open your heart and home if you are
able. Stevie is a rather small so we do believe Stevie is actually a female.
(Note: Stevie has since found a home.)

On a lighter note I have had quite a few successes regarding cats that I have
trapped and found homes for – some of which I still have visiting privileges
to and it’s so wonderful to see these cats because some of their accommodations
are very luxurious, many of them overlooking the golf course where they once
had little or no shelter from the elements and most of the cats are lucky enough
to have brothers & sisters to share their new, improved lives. Kismet – Bloomie
Cats – Rina – Magic – Kisses – Greyboy – Willow.

Q: If you could only get one point today, what would it be?

A: In the words of the beloved Bob Barker “spay and neuter you pet.” I can’t
say that often enough so that if they do inadvertently run away, they won’t
reproduce and create such misery. I have one more quote that I would like to
leave you with. “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged
by the way its animals are treated.” And that quote comes from spiritual leader
Gandhi.

You can contact Lindsay directly: LindsayRTD (at) aol.com.

PROTECT YOUR PET with the SOS PAWS Pet Emergency Plan!

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