Tag Archives: animals

The Gentle Barn revisted & Franken’s Gourmet Franks!

Last Sunday, Raw Possibility founder returned to The Gentle Barn for a second time in a row. The barn was filled with a plethora of personalities… and one such personality caught our eye and taste-buds: FRANKEN’S Gourmet Franks manned by an epic mustache and a beautiful curly-haired babe standing below a shaded awning. The kiosk is a vendor on wheels that parks on Sundays at the entrance of the Gentle Barn. Upon entering the barn, we noticed a few customers who came solely to purchase Franken’s gourmet franks. According to the Franken’s Gourmet Franks advertisement, the hot dogs or “franks” are 100% plant-based. On the side of the cart, is a table filled with vegan condiments–two rows of which are fresh jalapeno, onions, cole slaw, and “bacon” bits to slather on your frank. We ordered “The Creature” and “The Witch” and–despite our expectations–the monster mash did not play when we bit into them. But, the dog did not disappoint! In fact, for customers scorched in desert heat, sweating from having walked around a dry barn for the last two hours, we still managed to enjoy the hotness of a dog kept warm with what seemed like a gas-operated burner. The Frankenstand is parking its vegan cart at the Gentle Barn every Sunday at the entrance (until further notice). You can also find them at Figueroa Produce on Tuesdays and Bedrock Studios on Wednesdays.

Frankenstand is definitely a treat for us Valley folks. Instead of driving through the horror of LA horrors–traffic—why not take a scenic route over the hill and into the Canyons of Canyon Country to bite into an American staple made vegan: the hot-dog.

World Day for Animals in Laboratories

Today people across the world are protesting the treatment of animals in laboratories.

Today is a United Nations recognized day for laboratory tortured animals.

In order to raise consciousness about this, I’m including a few links below. Of course, this blog begs the question: is it necessary to test on animals for human progress? The morality of the answer is not the underlying issue, rather the question is– is it acceptable and productive?

Huffington Post 

DC article 

Animal Aid

wdail.org 

Too lazy or busy working on facebook to consider an alternative to animal testing? Hmmm… or charity’s use of donations for animal testing?

Here is a glimpse of a proposed resolution:

“A growing number of medical researchers are aware that animal experiments are a poor guide to human diseases and treatments. They, consequently, reject them and concentrate on a range of human-based research techniques, such as donated tissue and organs, cell cultures, computer modelling and scanning and the still vital methods of clinical observation, autopsy studies and epidemiology. Some of these alternatives have been used by the Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research to secure medical progress in understanding a range of illnesses, including HIV, diabetes, breast cancer, asthma, meningitis and liver disease. It gets results that are directly applicable to humans, without causing animal suffering.”  - Peter G Tatchell

Stray cats doin’ time

Meet Vampi:

Henry and I recently adopted Vampi from the Chatsworth Animal Shelter. She is going on 10 weeks. She is the first animal I have ever saved from a shelter and taken home.

There’s a ton of stray cats doing time behind bars. The kittens cry with meows. The adults just sleep. We fell in love with two cats and decided on Vampi. She’s gorgeous, affectionate, sweet, playful, lazy, and independent.

When we saw her she seemed like she was in perfect health, young and wanting affection. We paid $76 to the shelter (which included spaying and shelter cost). It’s crazy but you don’t go home with your kitty that day. They send it to the local vet to be spayed and tell you to call the vet the next day after 11 AM. At the vet, we paid about $50 for pain medicine, the Elizabethan collar she’s rockin in the picture above, a “taxi” carrier (a cardboard box), and take-home pain medicine.

She was stressed by the commute and the surgery (they cut her uterus out). Still Vampi was such a good cat, she didn’t scratch me or act in a panicky manner. She kept her composure and peaceful demeanor. A day or two later, she started sneezing clear snot. I took her to the vet the next day where she was diagnosed with Upper Respiratory Infection (UPR). Apparently UPR is more than common in shelters. Most cats come out sick of shelters. We’ve been trying our best to take care of her. I bought antibiotics and a vitamin cream for her appetite ($41). It’s ridiculous, I know that we’ve spent a pretty penny on her, but we can afford her and having her around is nice. She caters to our schedule and leaves us feeling less guilty (that a puppy or dog would otherwise make us feel).

Now she is doing better but she still has mucous pouring out of her eyes and she heaves when she breathes. You can hear the mucus in her lungs. Aside from that, she has a sweet personality and is slowly starting to play.

I just wanted to talk about the experience so others who are considering adoption know the details of saving a cat from the animal shelter. I was surprised and emotionally drained by the experience. Had I known the stages and what to expect, my heartache would’ve been lessened. For some reason, while I did my research regarding adopting an animal, I read nothing about the fees, the illnesses or the behavioral change in the animal during this transition.

Animals are pouring into the Animal Shelters across Los Angeles county to the point that they are now offering two cats for the price of one (if they have been sheltered for longer than 10 days). If you love to love animals, consider saving one from the shelter. S/he is worth the effort.