South Florida animal shelters encouraging pet adoption as illnesses infecting cats, dogs spreads
One disease is impacting dogs in Miami-Dade County, while the other is infecting cats in Broward County, as South Florida animal shelters deal with overcrowding.
At Broward County's animal shelter, they are navigating a cat virus called panleukopenia. The virus causes lethargy, diarrhea and vomiting, and can be especially dangerous for kittens.
"The virus is prevalent in the spring, contagious and resistant to disinfectants," said Broward shelter veterinarian Antonella Guerra.
The affected cats are isolated, and for now, the Broward shelter is not taking in stray cats, but the shelter is open for business, and they are encouraging people to adopt cats and dogs.
George Pacheco and his son are looking to adopt a pet from the Broward County Animal Shelter
"You are saving an animal who needs a home," Pacheco said.
In the Broward animal care field, services manager Philip Goen told CBS News Miami if you have a cat, try to keep them inside.
"As far as putting food and water out, if it's not known to you, I wouldn't start that practice," he said.
At Miami-Dade's animal shelter, it is the dogs that have Chief Vet Maria Serrano's attention.
With over 500 dogs up for adoption — twice the capacity — she's dealing with a "strep zoo" outbreak, a bacteria affecting the respiratory tract that can lead to pneumonia.
"Luckily, we have treated the entire shelter with antibiotics and we are doing deep cleaning," she said.
The affected sick dogs are isolated, and Miami-Dade is discouraging people from turning in stray animals and encouraging them to open their hearts and homes.
"We need people to adopt," Serrano said. "Overcrowding is the root of all disease."
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Associated Press
a day ago
- Associated Press
FOXO TECHNOLOGIES INC. ANNOUNCES EXECUTION OF A NON-BINDING ACQUISITION AGREEMENT FOR AN ASSISTED-LIVING FACILITY IN SOUTH FLORIDA FOR A TOTAL CONSIDERATION OF $22 MILLION
WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA, Aug. 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FOXO Technologies Inc. (NYSE American: FOXO) ('FOXO' or the 'Company') announces that it has executed a non-binding acquisition agreement to acquire an assisted living and memory care facility in South Florida. The proposed acquisition includes the land and buildings. The facility has 87 units licensed for the provision of assisted living and memory care services. The purchase price for the facility is expected to be $22 million, a portion of which is milestone-based. $5M of the purchase price will be in the form of non-convertible preferred stock. Completion of the acquisition is subject to definitive agreements and a number of closing conditions, including satisfactory due diligence and financing. 'This agreement further demonstrates our strategy to add assisted living facilities to the health care services we provide,' said Seamus Lagan, Chief Executive Officer of FOXO. 'We are confident that we can close on acquisitions currently subject to non-binding agreements, which if successfully completed, will add in excess of 350 units providing assisted living and memory care services.' Furthermore, the Company expects to shortly confirm a definitive agreement that is at an advanced stage of completion for the acquisition of Vector Biosource, Inc., that was previously announced. The Company continues to explore and negotiate additional opportunities in the assisted living and behavioral health sector and is confident that the expansion of its Myrtle Recovery Centers, Inc. business is imminent. The Company expects to file its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2025 on or before August 14, 2025, and expects to demonstrate a continued improvement in net revenues, profitability and stockholders' equity. About FOXO Technologies Inc. ('FOXO') FOXO owns and operates three subsidiaries. Rennova Community Health, Inc., owns and operates Scott County Community Hospital, Inc. (d/b/a Big South Fork Medical Center), a critical access designated (CAH) hospital in East Tennessee. Myrtle Recovery Centers, Inc., a 30-bed behavioral health facility in East Tennessee. Myrtle provides inpatient services for detox and residential treatment and outpatient services for MAT and OBOT Programs. FOXO Labs, Inc. is a biotechnology company dedicated to improving human health and life span through the development of cutting-edge technology and product solutions for various industries. For more information about FOXO, visit This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. Any offers, solicitations of offers to buy, or any sales of securities will be made in accordance with the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended ('Securities Act'). This announcement is being issued in accordance with Rule 135 under the Securities Act. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements are made under the 'safe harbor' provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about the FOXO's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, and a number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. These factors include, but are not limited to the risk of changes in the competitive and highly regulated industries in which FOXO operates; variations in operating performance across competitors or changes in laws and regulations affecting FOXO's business; the ability to implement FOXO's business plans, forecasts, and other expectations; the ability to obtain financing; the risk that FOXO has a history of losses and may not achieve or maintain profitability in the future; the enforceability of FOXO's intellectual property, including its patents and the potential infringement on the intellectual property rights of others; and the risk of downturns and a changing regulatory landscape in the highly competitive industries in which FOXO operates. The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. Readers should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties discussed in FOXO's most recent reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q, particularly the 'Risk Factors' sections of those reports, and in other documents FOXO has filed, or will file, with the SEC. These filings identify and address other important risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements, and FOXO assumes no obligation and does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Contact: Sebastien Sainsbury [email protected] (561) 485-0151
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Aussies warned about little-known winter threat looming over pets: 'Act quickly'
Australian pet owners are being urged to maintain tick paralysis treatments all year round after a beloved family dog was found unresponsive in her home. Felix Nelson, who owns much-loved Layla, told Yahoo News he first noticed something was off with the German short-haired pointer when she appeared to be a "bit wobbly" after a long walk last month. After an appointment with a vet, who suspected the dog was suffering from a pinched nerve in her back, the pair returned to their Nowra home on the NSW South Coast for some rest. However, as Felix was heading to bed the same day, he noticed Layla had "gone downhill" and lacked control of her legs, neck and head. The dog was rushed to hospital, and a tick — which had struck in the middle of winter — was found lodged between her toes. Tick treatment was administered immediately, but she remained in hospital for over a week. "It was the fact that I happened to catch her at the right time. If she had been a little better at bedtime, she probably would have been gone by morning," Felix told Yahoo. "We were really worried, she's such a good dog." Thankfully, Layla survived the ordeal, however, the family had to fork out thousands on medical bills. "It was a couple of thousand dollars, it wasn't cheap," Felix said. "It was certainly something the bank account could have done with not spending." 🏕️ Mum's disturbing find on daughter's eye after camping trip prompts warning to parents 🤑 Aussies warned after dog owner's deadly discovery leads to $1,700 bill 👀 Urgent warning to Aussies as 'dangerous' ticks emerging 'everywhere' 'Tick season' doesn't really apply anymore, vet warns Vet Tim Hopkins from SASH explained the idea of "tick seasons" is no longer applicable as the parasites can thrive all year round, leaving pets vulnerable to bites even in winter and cold spells of weather. "The tick season really doesn't exist anymore. We used to think about ticks being a spring and summer thing, but we see them all year round, even in the cooler weather and in urban areas far from bushland too," he told Yahoo. This was news to Felix, who admitted the ordeal with Layla had really "opened [his] eyes to what to look out for". "I'd been making more of an effort in the weeks before [her tick bite] to go out[doors] because it was cooler and the snakes wouldn't be out," he said. "It was kind of a surprise to have her done by a tick, because I always had been told ticks really weren't a problem outside of spring and summer." While ticks are mostly found on the southeast coast of Australia, cases have popped up in Melbourne and even in Adelaide. Tim explained this is an example of how ticks can "hitchhike" on pets, people or even pot plants, and is something pet owners should also be mindful of. "Some cases [of tick bites] do have tragic outcomes, but in my view, they are entirely preventable. A good prevention tip is to check your pet daily, and if you see a sign, obviously act quickly, because if you seek veterinary attention, you're much more likely to have a positive outcome," the vet said. "And keep up with your tick prevention medication." Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@ You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
Miami Herald
29-07-2025
- Miami Herald
Cancer patients in Haiti face death sentence due to distance, gangs, lack of resources
For four years Jean Fritz Dieu fought to stay alive, traveling by motorbike over rugged mountains and through gang-controlled streets to get treatment for an aggressive tumor. When the armed gangs took over the final open road, he used a barge on the bay to reach Haiti's capital. On Saturday, Dieu, known as 'Presnel' to family and friends, lost his years-long battle with cancer. He died in the neighboring Dominican Republic, where he had been receiving radiation treatment with the help of a South Florida-based charity, Flying High 4 Haiti. 'Presnel risked his life just to stay alive,' said Ines Lozano, a Miami resident and founder of Flying High 4 Haiti. 'He clung to hope, attending Mass every Sunday to pray for healing and give thanks to those who supported him. I hope we continue to dream of a future where all cancer patients in Haiti have access to essential treatments like radiotherapy. His legacy lives on through the compassion of all those who donated for his treatment.' While Dieu, 42, didn't survive his fight, his journey is serving as a stark reminder of the roadblocks and immense challenges Haitians with cancer and other chronic illnesses face amid the country's widespread gang violence and crumbling healthcare infrastructure. It's also underscoring the need for access to better care. While radiation therapy remans an important part of cancer treatment, there is not a single machine in Haiti, where the last clinic with a gamma radiation device closed more than 20 years ago. 'You should have one radiation machine for every 2 million inhabitants and you have 12 million people in Haiti and we don't even have one machine,' said Dr. Oriol Jn Baptiste, director of the SESHAD Services de Santé Haitiano-Dominicaine, in Santiago de los Caballeros in the northern Dominican Republic, where Dieu was being treated. 'A public health system in charge of a country cannot afford to not be thinking about the treatments for cancer.' Dieu was 38 and working at a school Flying High 4 Haiti supports in Ille-a-Vache, an island off Haiti's southwestern coast, when he first discovered he had a tumor. In the last few months, Haitians have not only seen the further collapse of their already fragile healthcare system, but for those with cancer, life-saving treatment has become even harder to obtain. In March, gangs attacked the city of Mirebalais, forcing the evacuation of the 35-bed University Hospital of Mirebalais. Haiti's most modern health facility, the hospital offered free cancer care and was featured in the Miami Herald's 2019 series 'Cancer in Haiti.' The series explored how deaths from preventable diseases like cervical cancer were growing due to limited early detection programs and a lack of radiation treatment. The series also explored the lack of public health priority to pediatric cancer cases. The attack on Mirebalais was among several on hospitals that has stopped 40% of health facilities in the capital from operating. Among them is the St. Francis de Sales Hospital, which treated hundreds of cancer patients annually. 'It has been very rough,' said Dr. Joseph Bernard, an oncologist who worked at the Catholic hospital and has since opened his own private cancer clinic, Clinique de Cancer St Francois de Sales, in the capital. Dr. Bernard was Dieu's doctor before he was forced to seek care in the Dominican Republic because the chemotherapy had run its course. Dr. Bernard said since the closure of Mirebalais and St. Francis, demand for care has gone up and many patients are at advanced stages. of the disease. In addition to having to pay for previously free care, patients from Mirebalais face another complication: The cancer specialist hasn't been able to get access to their charts. Then, there is the lack of treatment equipment. 'We still have limitations regarding radiation therapy,' Dr. Bernard said. In the past, patients had the possibility of traveling to the Dominican Republic or Cuba if they had the financial means. However both have become nearly impossible to get to because of medication shortages and a lack of direct flights in the case of Cuba, and border closures with the Dominican Republic. As a result, patients, including children in need of radiation therapy, have had difficulties getting humanitarian visas to seek treatment. 'I've been fighting for two years for a humanitarian visas for Haitians who need treatment; I've written to the Dominican consulate and they never answered me,' said Dr. Baptiste, who added he was working with Nos Petits Frères et Sœurs in Port-au-Prince, which offers the only juvenile cancer program in Haiti, to transfer cases to the Dominican Republic for radiation treatment before the border closed. In 2021, Dieu spent six months undergoing radiotherapy in the Dominican Republic for his cancer. He was doing well until a small tumor was detected behind the right ear, Dr. Bernard said. 'We tried to shrink it with chemo. It did not work. The tumor started to bleed a lot and it became very infected.' 'When cancer reoccurs, it's very aggressive,' said Dr. Bernard, noting that radiotherapy is one of the three main components of cancer care, which also includes surgery as well as chemo. 'In the end, he needed radiation therapy.' During a visit to the Dominican Republic, Lozano, who had arranged for Dieu's prior treatment with the help of Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos, a Catholic children's charity with programs in Latin America and the Caribbean, approached officials about getting a humanitarian visa for Dieu and his wife. It came a few weeks later. With Dieu too weak to make the journey by road, Lozanao arranged for him to fly from Les Cayes to Cap-Haïtien, the country's second largest city in the north. He then traveled to the border, where an ambulance transported him to the clinic in Santiago, three hours away. Radiation treatment is expensive and most of the patients never finish the course, said Baptiste, who noted that the stay in the Dominican Republic also adds up the costs. He determined that Dieu would need at least 33 rounds of radiotherapy over 10 weeks. The cost was $19,000, which Lozano had hoped to absorb with the help of a GoFundme effort that remains open. On Saturday, Dieu collapsed. It's unclear what went wrong, though he arrived for treatment needing six rounds of blood transfusions with his head severely infected. Dr. Bernard said most people don't realize the psychological toll Haiti's present gang crisis poses for cancer patients. 'There are a lot of things we really cannot evaluate, like the impact of stress, for example, on treatment outcomes' he said. 'These are things that are tough to evaluate but we need to consider them seriously.' In the case of Dieu, he faced a perilous journey trying to get to treatment in Haiti before he went to the Dominican Republic. What previously consisted of a boat ride from Ille-a-Vache and then a bus ride into the capital along a main highway suddenly became an arduous journey through gang tolls, shootouts and police blockades. After temporarily moving to Port-au-Prince to get to his treatments he sent a voice message one day, over the sound of gunfire, explaining that he could not get there because the capital had become a war zone. Lozano began to fear that if the cancer didn't kill Dieu the gangs would. She hired a driver to transport him overnight on the back of a motorbike. He made the seven-hour journey every 21 days to get to his chemo treatments. When traveling 5,000 feet high along a mountain range, no longer became an option this year after gangs seized control of the last open road in the hills above the capital in Kenscoff, Dieu, with his head wrapped in bandages, texted to say that he had found another way: via barge through the bay of Port-au-Prince. Dr. Bernard will be expanding his services next month to Les Cayes at the private Caramel Hospital. It will be the first oncology unit in the coastal southwestern city where many cancer patients from the south are diagnosed too late or not at all. 'Too many Haitian women are dying from cancers that are treatable, simply because there is no access to care in the south,' said Skyler Badenoch, who runs Hope for Haiti, a Naples-based nonprofit that provides health care access in southwest Haiti. 'Dr. Bernard's plan to open a cancer treatment facility in this region could be transformational. Together, we can bring early detection, treatment and dignity within reach, and ensure that where someone lives no longer determines whether they live.' Lozano says the expansion of cancer care to the south is good news. 'There are a large number of patients in the south who haven't been able to go chemo or anything, and they're dying,' she said, adding that Bernard's clinic opening will bring a lot of hope. 'In spite of all the problems that exist in Haiti, there's a lot of acts of hope that people don't know.' On Sunday, an ambulance, paid for by Lozano, transported Dieu's body in a casket back across the Haitian-Dominican border so. his four children could say goodbye. 'We had high hopes for a better outcome, but at least he died with dignity and receiving the kind of care every Haitian deserves,' said Lozano. 'That is his legacy. I hope that Presnel's battle serves as an example of the urgent need for radiotherapy in Haiti to save other lives.'
