Safety With Cats in Art and Craft

ByBernadetteKazmarski

"No art project can begin until someone tastes the paint water."

With any species of pet in the house it's a good idea to avoid toxins in common household products, but we don't often consider other products we use in that assessment including items in our home employment or hobbies. Paints, finishes, adhesives, residue from cutting wood, glass, plastic and other materials all have impacts in their original state and also if they become airborne as fumes, dust or aerosols even after we are finished working with them.

What We Do Around The House

I am a freelance commercial and fine artist, which means I design things and make things for a living. Off my

HQHVSN-

computer I paint with pastels, watercolors and acrylics and also use charcoal, pencils, oil pastels and more. I am also a crafter and use a variety of craft paints and finishes, adhesives, I cut, trim and shred vinyl, labels and papers, I sew and knit and crochet, and plenty more things.

My cats aren't likely to pick up and eat a pastel, but they do want to drink my paint water and chase yarns and threads as I work. They may, intentionally or not, walk through wet paint, dust from my pastels, brush up against modge podge or clear finish, or I may have it on my hands. And they certainly breathe the air where I'm using these things.

With the growth of entrepreneurs in creative endeavors either adding income with what they make and sell or

Bring the Team!

This course will provide didactic and hands-on learning focused on High Quality High Volume Spay/Neuter (HQHVSN) techniques.

HQHVSN is based on optimizing the team, protocols, and workflow to provide safe and efficient spay/neuter of pets, shelter animals, and community cats. This is accomplished by creating simple protocols and procedures that maximize efficiency of the team while minimizing any potential f or oversights and developing skill through repetition.

Three-minute cat spays can easily and safely be performed based on slight modifications in surgical technique. HQHVSN is a way to save more lives - preventing homelessness and euthanasia due to overpopulation.

It is not just for shelters anymore!

12 RACE Approved CE Credits for Vets and Vet Techs!

In-clinic trainings available for larger teams within a 60 mile radius.

Session 1 - Jan. 7-8

Session 2 - Mar. 4-5

Session May 20-21

Held at Frankie's Friends HQHVSN Clinic and Training Center

In New Kensington, PA (17 miles from Pittsburgh)

Free turning it into a home-based business, I'm sure plenty of artists with cats experience the same thing.

ART

And Craft Materials

While art and craft materials come in various degrees of quality, they are basically made by a small number of manufacturers all using the same ingredients for consistency, There isn't as big a pool to choose from as, say, house paint or copy paper. In children's toys and in art and craft materials, dangerous amounts of toxins such as lead and ammonia have been found even though the product passed the testing for its intended use and quality.

ACMI, THE ART & CREATIVE MATERIALS INSTITUTE, INC.

I rely on this internationally-recognized certification organization. All materials I use in my house are "AP non-toxic", certified that kids can eat or drink them and not be hurt by them. Though there is no real testing for toxicity in animals for these products I use the guideline for using supplements and medications intended for humans, following the standard for pediatric use. The standards for testing are stated on their website:

ACMI has a consulting toxicology team at Duke University's Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, who review the complete formulas of products in the certification program. In this evaluation, the toxicology team take into account:

• Each ingredient and its quantity

• Possible adverse interaction with other ingredients

• The product's size and packaging

• Potential acute and chronic harm to any part of the human body

• Possible allergic reaction

• How a product is commonly used and misused

• U. S. national and state labeling regulations.

All products certified as non-toxic by ACMI are non-toxic for both children and adults because the Toxicologists base their evaluation on the use and misuse (such as ingesting a material) of the product by a small child.

Make smaller incisions for greater patient comfort and faster recoveries.

Maximize efficiency while obtaining excellent patient outcomes, allowing more surgeries in less time.

Enhance team morale and boost practice revenue by engaging the team to utilize their skills fully.

Nearly 1 million cats lose their lives each year due to overpopulation and lack of homes. A large part of the problem is the community cat population, the 40 million cats in the United States that are homeless and breeding. This “unowned” cat population is responsible for around 80% of the kittens born and brought into shelters, leading open door shelters to do what is unthinkable to us - euthanize cats that haven’t been adopted to make space for those suffering in the streets.

This is where we come in. Our mission is to end suffering and overpopulation by “turning off the faucet” rather than “bailing out the tub.” It means becoming proactive and getting these community cats spayed, neutered, and vaccinated so we don’t have to continue this cycle of reactivity and unnecessary killing. There is no need to "recreate the wheel," we have spayed and neutered tens of thousands of cats and as the commercial says, "learned a thing or two." We hope to have the opportunity to share what we've learned with you.

Meet Your Instructor: Becky L. Morrow, DVM, MS, CAWA

Dr. Morrow has extensive training and experience in Shelter Medicine, with a master’s degree, two graduate certificates, and over a decade in practice as a Shelter Medicine/HQHVSN Veterinarian.

Dr. Morrow taught HQHVSN (high quality high volume spay/neuter) techniques at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine and is currently an Adjunct Professor at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine and an Assistant Teaching Professor at Penn State University.

724-889-7011 www.frankies-friends.org beckymorrow.dvm@frankies-friends.org