The Love of a Good Dog

The capacity for love and generosity is not limited to humans. And giving can fulfill the giver as much as it nurtures the recipient. Once again, a good dog shows us how it's done.

Article from From Greyhound Zoom:

MOTHER JASMINE

Jasmine and Bramble the roe deer

This is the story of a dog so saintly, birds perch on her nose.

In 2003, police in Warwickshire, England, opened a garden shed and found a whimpering, cowering dog. It had been locked in the shed and abandoned. It was dirty and malnourished, and had clearly been abused.

In an act of kindness, the police took the dog, which was a greyhound bitch, to the nearby Nuneaton and Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary, run by a man named Geoff Grewcock and known as a willing haven for animals abandoned, orphaned or otherwise in need.

Geoff Grewcock and the other sanctuary staff went to work with two aims: to restore the dog to full health, and to win her trust. It took several weeks, but eventually both goals were achieved.

They named her Jasmine, and they started to think about finding her an adoptive home.

The dog had other ideas. No-one remembers now how it began, but Jasmine started welcoming all animal arrivals at the sanctuary. It wouldn't matter if it was a puppy, a fox cub, a rabbit or, probably, a rhinoceros, Jasmine would peer into the box or cage and, where possible, deliver a welcoming lick.

Geoff Grewcock relates one of the early incidents. "We had two puppies that had been abandoned by a nearby railway line. One was a Lakeland Terrier cross and another was a Jack Russell Doberman cross. They were tiny when they arrived at the centre and Jasmine approached them and grabbed one by the scruff of the neck in her mouth and put him on the settee. Then she fetched the other one and sat down with them, cuddling them."

"But she is like that with all of our animals, even the rabbits. She takes all the stress out of them and it helps them to not only feel close to her but to settle into their new surroundings.

"She has done the same with the fox and badger cubs, she licks the rabbits and guinea pigs and even lets the birds perch on the bridge of her nose."

Jasmine, the timid, abused, deserted waif, became the animal sanctuary's resident surrogate mother, a role for which she might have been born. The list of orphaned and abandoned youngsters she has cared for comprises five fox cubs, four badger cubs, 15 chicks, eight guinea pigs, two stray puppies and 15 rabbits.

And one roe deer fawn. Tiny Bramble, 11 weeks old, was found semi-conscious in a field. Upon arrival at the sanctuary, Jasmine cuddled up to her to keep her warm, and then went into the full foster mum role. Jasmine the greyhound showers Bramble the roe deer with affection and makes sure nothing is matted in her fur.

"They are inseparable," says Geoff Grewcock. "Bramble walks between her legs and they keep kissing each other. They walk together round the sanctuary. It's a real treat to see them."

Jasmine will continue to care for Bramble until she is old enough to be returned to woodland life. When that happens, Jasmine will not be lonely. She will be too busy showering love and affection on the next orphan or victim of abuse.

Doing what she does best, being a mother.

www.dailymail.co.uk; images: Caters News Agency Ltd

From left, Toby, a stray Lakeland dog; Bramble, an orphaned roe deer; Buster, a stray Jack Russell; a dumped rabbit; Sky, an injured barn owl; and Jasmine

Grand Rounds is Up

At ACP Internist -- it's a collection of the week's interesting posts from the health and medicine blogoshpere.

Is Marriage Good or Bad for Your Health?

Is marriage good or bad for your health. According to the statistics in the article below, the answer is both. It's a surprising read!


From the Daily Record

Well Aisle Be

Mar 6 2009 By Brian Mciver

A Look At Whether Marriage Is Good Or Bad For Your Health

It can be the fairytale that you have dreamed of all your life, or it can be an eternity of trouble and strife.

Because, according to research projects and studies, marriage can either be the best thing or the worst thing to happen to your health.

A new report suggests that being married can make a woman ill, with American psychologists claiming women suffer from health problems more than their husbands.

But the new report is just the latest in a long line of surveys, which have shown the institution can either be good for your health - with lower risk of illness and longer life expectancy - or can be bad for you in terms of stress, putting on weight and lifestyle problems.

Here are just some of the scientific reasons why being hitched can lead to marital bliss, or wedded hell...

BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH:

The most recent study was unveiled at a meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society in Chicago. It showed that from a research group of 276 couples, women were likely to suffer from increased levels of depression, as well as physical ailments such as heart disease, strokes and diabetes.

A study at the University of Missouri claimed that murder was a problem in marriages.

They found that women are more likely to be murdered while married, while a criminologist in Washington DC suggested that a drop in the US murder rate was due to the falling number of marriages.

With about half of all marriages ending in divorce, it's been proved in studies that divorce is bad for your health, with increased risk of physical and emotional health problems.

A turbulent Liz Taylor-Richard Burton style relationship, with rows and arguments, can also be bad for your health, according to virologists at Ohio State University. They found that rowing couples are more likely to suffer from viruses and high blood pressure.

In 1993, Dr Miriam Stoppard declared that: "Marriage is bad for women. Living with men seems to be a health hazard, they should come with a government health warning."

A12-year study into the health and lifestyle of British civil servants, published in 2007, claimed that an unhappy marriage could lead to increased stress and risk of heart disease.

A2002 study of 8000 couples by the University of Nottingham found that married men and women can pick up their partner's health problems.

Those married to a sufferer of asthma, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, ulcers or depression were 70 per cent more likely to develop the same symptoms.

Co-habiting can be better for your health than marriage or single life, according to a study on behalf of Somerfield in 1998.

The study found that couples who move in together eat better and healthier than single people, but also better than married couples who have been together for a few years.

GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH:

A 2003 study of 1000 towns and cities across Scotland found that areas with higher marriage rates were happier than the average population.

The town of Kinloss, Moray, had the highest marriage rate at 66 per cent, and also the highest rate of happy people, at 80 per cent.

Married men live an average of three years more than single men, with the mortality rate for single men three and a half times higher between the ages of 30 and 59. The mortality rate for married women is also much lower.

Happy marriages are the healthiest, with married people having thinner heart walls and lower blood pressure.

Married people are half as likely to develop Alzheimer's as single people, according to a study by the Swedish Karolinska Institute.

A Swedish study of 5500 men in 2002 showed that married men are less likely to die from heart disease and strokes than their coupled friends.

The health risk for unmarried compared with married men widens in middle ages, according to a study by the Office for National Statistics in 2001. The study found that single men over the age of 45 are 23 per cent more likely to die of illness. Divorced men have a 20 per cent increase in health risk, and widowed men,30 per cent.

Dutch scientist Dr Inez Joung, at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, found that from a checklist of 23 major illnesses and health problems, from migraines and cancer to arthritis, married people were healthier on every score.

While other studies have found that rowing couples have increased health problems, a report from Sydney University in 2008 found that married rowing women have smaller breast cancer tumours than married women who row less.

Similarly, a turbulent relationship has been found to help women reduce the risk of heart disease and strokes. Women who bottle up their anger are four times as likely to die from such conditions.

A study at the University of California found that single men between the age of 19 and 44 are twice as likely to die as married men. They found a happy marriage can add five years to the life of men and women.

A study at the University of San Francisco found people in a relationship with a steady sex life are less likely to suffer from colds and the flu.

Grands Rounds is up at Doc Gurley

The ever creative Doc Gurley used improv as the theme for this weeks' collection of health posts. And she is adding a live webcast to the mix. Check it out.

Spring -- it's about time

photo by David McKay

Dating Website for Mentally Ill Singles

In this society, it's too easy to ignore people with mental illness. And it's way too easy to assume that their needs for affiliation and intimacy are absent or foreign. Someone, who knows better, came up with a great idea for helping people with mental illness find each other - for a few dates or for life.

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Dating Website Matches Mentally Ill Singles

Albuquerque, N.M. -- Lynne has someone to spend Christmas and New Year's with this year. And that's unusual.

"It's been a long time since I've been with anybody for the holidays," the 50-year-old Albuquerque native said recently. "That was different."

Many people find dating stressful. But, for Lynne, who was diagnosed with depression, anxiety and other mental disorders at 19, dating invariably ends in disaster.

But about a month ago, Lynne began seeing a 53-year-old man she met through a dating Web site designed specifically for people with mental illness.

The site — TrueAcceptance.com — was launched last year by an Albuquerque social worker to help people like Lynne find healthy relationships.

"The Web site, because it caters to people with mental illness, you go in knowing that up front," Lynne said. "It makes communication a lot easier. You don't feel threatened by what the other person might think."

Lynne was married once, briefly. But relationships were more likely to aggravate her mental problems than improve them.

"I've been single most of my life for that reason," she said.

Elizabeth Barrett, who created the site with a partner in Denver, Colo., said she observed from her work with people with mental illness that those in strong relationships are more likely to thrive.

"They tend to do better," Barrett said. "They tend to stay out of the hospital." Couples in which both partners struggle with mental illness can share their experiences and help keep each other out of trouble. "You have somebody to throw your ideas off of."

Barrett, 30, has worked with the mentally ill in a variety of settings, including the Bernalillo County jail and an Albuquerque psychiatric clinic. She now works in several New Mexico schools, from elementary through high school.

Users can post as much, or as little, information as they like. Many list the nature of their illnesses. Lynne said she and her new companion exchanged about 100 emails before the two met for the first time.

"We've been seeing quite a bit of each other," Lynne said.

Does she see a future for the relationship? "Maybe. For now, it's good companionship.

Check out Grand Rounds

It's up at Health Business Blog - an interesting collection of posts from the health care blogosphere.