Pet

Your choices in San Francisco hotels are overwhelming. The prices can be too. So during our staff visit to the City by the Bay, we looked for reasonably priced hotels that had charm, location or both. We came back with 14 ideas on places to bed down. It's not a complete list, but it is eclectic, like the city itself. Mystic Hotel. This property, which opened in April, stands on a tunnel-adjacent block of Stockton Street that you'll never see on a picture postcard, yet it has style, as do the Burritt Tavern bar and restaurant downstairs.

Most of us will put up with a cramped middle seat on a short flight. But on trips more than three hours long, we are ready to crack open our wallets and pay for a window or aisle seat. That is one of the findings of a recent Harris Interactive poll of 2,276 adults on the subject of airline pet peeves and passenger fees. On flights shorter than two hours, 33% of those surveyed said they would pay for extra legroom. If the flight lasts more than three hours, 58% said they would be willing to pay. Thirteen percent said they'd pay more than $25. But even if fliers are willing to pay the fees, they won't necessarily be happy about it. Creed Mamikunian, a doctor from Anchorage, describes all airline fees as ridiculous and offensive.

Most of us consume milk. We put it on cereal and add it to coffee. We give it to our children by the glassful to build up their bones. Women are encouraged to drink it throughout adulthood to maintain those bones. We select this milk from an ever-expanding range. Milk comes in whole, reduced-fat, low-fat and no-fat versions. We have organic milk and milk labeled as coming from farms that do not use hormones. But to Northern Californian dairy farmer Ron Garthwaite, these milks aren't milk at all.

We got another dog right away. That wasn't the plan. But back in March, less than two weeks after Rex died and when I still had faint bruises from digging my fingers into my forehead amid uncontrollable sobs, I signed us up to "foster" a Saint Bernard mix that had been rescued from a crack den. It was a classic rebound move, but the unbearable silence of the dogless house was too much to take. You don't realize how much a dog's presence defines the contours of your home until, in its absence, the walls seem to relocate themselves.

We got another dog right away. That wasn't the plan. But back in March, less than two weeks after Rex died and when I still had faint bruises from digging my fingers into my forehead amid uncontrollable sobs, I signed us up to "foster" a Saint Bernard mix that had been rescued from a crack den. It was a classic rebound move, but the unbearable silence of the dogless house was too much to take. You don't realize how much a dog's presence defines the contours of your home until, in its absence, the walls seem to relocate themselves.

Dear Amy: I euthanized my beloved cat. Aside from the grief of losing my pet of 15 years, I feel tremendous guilt. She was 17 or 18 years old and was recently diagnosed with an illness affecting her ability to breathe. Ever since she died, I have been reliving that conversation and wishing I had not made the call. The vet said the illness would cause a horrible natural death, but I feel like I ended her life prematurely, whether by a few weeks or a month.

WHERE TO STAY Catalina: Hermosa Hotel, 131 Metropole St., Avalon; (877) 241-1313, http://www.hermosahotel.com. This century-old hotel, which includes some small guest cottages, is among the few dog-friendly accommodations on the island. Lodgings are simple and economically priced and only a block from Avalon Bay. Doubles from $79 a night. No pet fee. Big Bear Lake: Pine Knot Guest Ranch, 908 Pine Knot Ave.; (800) 866-3446, http://www.pineknotguestranch.com. Individual cabins, most with fireplaces, kitchenettes and in-room spas.

Gentleman Ratty says he's "humbled" by the honor.

Question: We're moving to Honolulu next year for our jobs and are curious about how to get to the islands with our cat, Ana. None of the airlines will allow you to travel with a pet in the cabin, only in the hold. We're scared this will be too much for our cat to handle. What can we do? Anthony Amend Laguna Beach Answer: The options are limited for Ana, Amend's 14-year-old pound cat whom he describes as "old but spry. " Because Hawaii is a rabies-free state, the regulations on importing animals are strict, although not as strict as they used to be. There's a five-day quarantine for all animals if certain other conditions are met. You can find out the particulars — and they are very particular — at http://hawaii.gov/hdoa/ai/aqs/info/.

Spa Nautica at Ritz-Carlton Marina del Rey hosts a dog day this month with massages, acupressure, Reiki, stretching and strengthening for your hound -- for free. While pets receive their moments of spa bliss, owners can feel good by having a $99 massage that also helps fund an animal rescue organization. The deal: The free massage for dogs of all sizes will be performed by certified animal technicians, according to the hotel. For owners who indulge in their own Spa Nautica Massage at the hotel, it costs $99 for a 60-minute session, and 10% of the proceeds go to Much Love Animal Rescue in Los Angeles.

The teenager showed up in a panic on Thursday, cradling a wounded puppy in arms spattered with blood. A stray dog had attacked his 2-month-old pit bull on a walk near their South Los Angeles home. The city animal shelter nearby was the only place he knew to go. He ran over to Amanda Casarez, pleading for help. She took one look at the puppy's bloody gash and pulled out her cellphone. Within hours the pup was in surgery, the vet bill guaranteed by strangers from a pool of volunteers working with Downtown Dog Rescue, which sponsors an intervention program at the shelter.

Question: I manage a 12-unit apartment complex with a strict no-pets policy. We understand that under federal and state fair housing law, we may need to make an exception to our no-pet policy for a disabled resident who requires a service animal as a reasonable accommodation. However, there is a resident at my apartment complex who has a visitor staying with her for a few weeks. The visitor has a dog that accompanies her everywhere and appears to be staying in the resident's apartment with her. When I asked the resident about the dog, she told me that her guest is disabled and that the dog is a service animal.

When the emergency call came in, all the dispatcher heard was a woman screaming, "I need help!" But the caller hung up without answering any questions. Typically, dispatchers send police to check a call like that, officials said. But in that instance, a pop-up window on the dispatcher's computer screen said a child with a rare breathing disorder lived at the caller's address. So the dispatcher sent an ambulance along with police - a good thing, because the child was having seizures.

Visitors to Maui now have a way to stay connected to four-legged friends, even if the family pets are back home, thousands of miles away. The Maui Humane Society is giving pet lovers a chance  to interact with homeless dogs and cats in need of some human kindness. Starting Wednesday, the “Helping Paws Visitor Program” will let tourists lend a “helping paw” at the society's animal shelter 1-4 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays. After a brief orientation, vacationers-turned-volunteers will participate in activities such as bathing puppies, brushing cats and walking dogs.

One man in Monrovia came face to face with a couple of unwanted guests this week when two hungry bears broke into his home, ransacked the kitchen and ate everything in sight. Justin Lee said the bears apparently broke through a pet door. “I was just like hanging out inside with my dog. I look over and me and the bear just like lock eyes,” Lee recounted. “Just the whole kitchen was a mess. The garbage was on the floor, our food was eaten.” Lee ran upstairs and called 911. The bears headed to his backyard.

America's shelters euthanized an estimated 3 million to 4 million animals last year. Most had been lost, abandoned or otherwise unwanted. But animal rights experts say it doesn't have to be that way, and people looking to help don't necessarily have to adopt a pet or even write a check to make a difference. One of the most powerful tools out there? Social media. Using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and even Pinterest can help animal rights organizations, rescues and municipal shelters spread the word about critters available for adoption.

Re "Perpetual Pets, Via Cloning," March 16: The individuals who want to clone their pets have a truly sad misunderstanding of the basic nature of life and death and are reducing what they think is love to a simple desire to replace an object for which they feel affection, something akin to trying to replace a broken, one-of-a-kind antique. And the companies taking advantage of this misguided desire should be ashamed and run out of business. Not only can cloning not replicate the unique personality that makes each pet so special, but it's totally unnecessary, considering the millions of unwanted cats and dogs that languish in city shelters all over the country, doomed for euthanasia if they aren't adopted.

Bandai's popular Tamagotchi pets are now available for Apple users. IPhone and iPad users can now take care of the popular digital pets just like they did on the small, egg-shaped devices sold by Bandai back in the 1990s. The app, formally called "Tamagotchi L.i.f.e.," can be downloaded from the Apple App Store. Bandai resurrected its Tamagotchi pets earlier this year when it launched the app for Android devices just before Valentine's Day. The Japanese company said that the Android version of the app has been downloaded more than 600,000 times.

Fay Kanin, an Oscar-nominated screenwriter for the 1958 Clark Gable-Doris Day comedy "Teacher's Pet" and former president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, died Wednesday. She was 95. In a writing career that spanned more than four decades, Kanin penned screenplays for movies such as the 1954 Elizabeth Taylor romantic drama "Rhapsody" and television specials such as "Tell Me Where It Hurts," for which she won two Emmy Awards in 1974. She won another Emmy in 1979 for producing "Friendly Fire," a critically acclaimed Carol Burnett TV movie based on the true story of an American soldier killed in the Vietnam War. Kanin served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1979 to 1983, and was its second female president after actress Bette Davis.