The Post-Crescent from Appleton, Wisconsin • 37

C-6 POST-CRESCENT. APPLETON-NEENAH-MENASHA, WIS. MONDAY, JULY 27,1998 Playful cat needs to get his paws on some toys PLAYING PET OF THE WEEK As for adopting this kitten, Fox says, "If you've fallen in love, go for it, as long as your existing cat is reasonably healthy and is up to date on vaccinations." You're right to keep the newcomer restricted, easing into a slow introduction. "Don't allow the two cats to meet face to face until the kitten has been symptom free for a week," Fox adds. If the kitten's symptoms recur in six months, or even a year or two later, don't be surprised.

Many upper respiratory diseases often recur throughout a lifetime, particularly when a cat is stressed. If that happens, call your vet for treatment. One more note: Before you adopt, make certain the shelter kitty has been tested for Feline Leukemia and Feline AIDS. My two male Guinea pigs don't get along; they fight when they're together. But I only want one cage.

What should I do? New Berlin, Wis. Negotiating peace between two naturally territorial male Guinea pigs is not easy. Dr. Susan Horton, a vet from Niles, 111., with a special interest in small mammals, says neutering may help. In addition, she says, consider doubling the size of your current enclosure.

You should "know that even if your dudes are "fixed" and living in spacious quarters, they may still quarrel. If they aren't getting along, this is a serious matter because they can incur serious injuries. You might consider trading in one male for a sweet young lady Guinea pig. Now, you'll have a new concern: In three months, you may have two to six baby Guinea pigs. My 16-year-old cat has developed the strange habit of pushing his water bowl around the room with his paw until the water spills, and only then does he lick it up.

Any ideas? V.B., Cyberspace Your cat is doing what many other seniors do playing shuf-fleboard. Buy a heavy ceramic water bowl or a stainless steel bowl with little rubber pads that can't be pushed around. However, do provide toys you think your cat may enjoy pushing around, such as little balls or a Push 'n Treat. This is a small plastic ball with a little hole. When it's stuffed with kibble or catnip, the stuff falls out.

Rolling the toy around is great for cats of any age. Small cat ball toys are available everywhere; you can get the Push 'n Treat by calling 800-565-2695. Since your cat enjoys water games, you may occasionally indulge his quirk. Use a little plastic microwave container instead of his usual water dish. We're worried about our house.

Our dogs are a sloppy drinkers, dripping water all over. Then, there are the accidents in one room of the house. If we don't block off that room, the dogs have accidents in there. What can we do? Lima, Ohio. Talk about pack mentality; because one pooch apparently decided this room was a good place to urinate, the other dogs chimed in.

First, double-check with your vet to make certain none of the dogs has a physical problem that prompted the inappropriate urination in the first place. It's likely this is a behavior problem. That' why Audrey Carr, author of "Housebreak Any Dog" (NTCContemporary Books, suggests breaking that the habit first by closing the dogs out of that room for three months, minimum. Shut the door or put up a doggy gate. Meanwhile, use an odor neutralizer and consider hav- K.P., Ann Arbor, Mich.

That common cold you refer to is probably what's generically called a feline upper respiratory disease. There are various possible causes, including rhinotracheitis (a herpes infection) or feline cali-civirus Your existing cat is hopefully vaccinated for both these diseases. However, the kitty from the shelter may have any number of other diseases for which there is no vaccination, or chlamydia, a bacterial disease your present cat may or may not be protected for. Dr, Larry Fox, former president of the Chicago Veterinary Medical Association, and a vet with a special interest in feline infectious diseases, explains that Amoxicillin is appropriate. But you should know Amoxicillin is used to treat bacterial infections, not viruses.

If the problem is being caused by a viral disease, Amoxicillin won't help. However, the drug does effectively deal with any secondary bacterial infection which can occur. RUSTY is a 9-month-old poodle mix. He is available from the Fox Valley Humane Association, 3401 W. Brewster Appleton (noon-5 p.m.

Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays; noon-7 p.m. Tuesdays; and noon-3 p.m. Saturdays.) Other pets are available from the Neenah Animal Shelter, 951 County" Neenah (8 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturdays) and the East-shore Humane Association, 846 Madison Chilton (11 a.m.-4 p.m.

Monday-Friday and. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday). a regular feeding schedule. As for the sloppy drinking, Carr understands; she has two giant schnauzers.

Her solution is to use bibs. But then she's from New York, what can we say? Have a groomer trim the dogs' beards, or do it yourself. Long-eared or elevated dog bowls for large breeds (available through catalogs and at pet stores) may also let your pups drink without getting her beards or ears wet. There's a 4-month-old male cat I'm tempted to adopt from a local shelter. However, several of the shelter cats had a common cat cold and the cat I want started to sneeze, too.

The staff has suggested I not get this cat because I have another one at home. However, if I do adopt this kitty, I'll keep him isolated from my other cat, for a while, anyway, so they can get used to each another. At the shelter, they're treating the kitty I want with Amoxicillin. Is that right? Should I adopt this kitten? Jurassic Park" grossed last year over the same period. Since then the box office has dropped sharply, and the movie has grossed about $134 million total.

Disney also was counting on astronomical numbers for "Armageddon," but the movie's three-day first weekend take of $36.1 million didn't approach the July 4 weekend openings of last year's "Men in Black" ($51.1 million) or 1996's "Independence Day" ($50.2 million). It also made less than the summer's other killer space chunk movie, "Deep Impact," in its opening weekend. Some industry types are wondering whether critics' and moviegoers' hostility toward "Godzilla" and "Armageddon" may be in part a reaction to the hype. Bart speculated that certain studios have been making a effort to STEVE DALE For The Post-Crescent MY PET WORLD ing the carpet professionally cleaned. Reports vary on the effectiveness of repellents, available at pet stores, but it can't hurt to try.

Meanwhile, your goal is to prevent the dogs from deciding to make mistakes elsewhere in the house. Pretend your adult dogs are puppies, and housebreak them as if they don't understand. The best means isn't correction but prevention. Tie the dogs' leashes around your belt buckle or waist like an umbilical cord. As you go about your daily tasks, take the dogs along.

If the dogs squat, admonish, "No! Bad dog." Promptly usher the pooches outdoors. If handling more than one dog around your waist is too great a challenge, simply rotate the dog that goes with you. Place the other dogs in the kitchen or another room with a non-carpeted floor, and restrict them there. If you catch a dog in this room having an accident, Carr suggests tossing a shake can (an empty soda can with four pennies inside) toward the dog. Don't hit the dog with the can; just startle the pet so it thinks that when squatting indoors, this awful thing falls from the sky.

Take the dogs on leash to the same place to relieve themselves. Don't let them out in the back yard unsupervised. (If a dog doesn't do its business, how will you know?) When the dogs do their "duty," reward them with a treat and say, "Good dogs." In time, you can phase out the treats. Within reason, restrict the amount of water your dogs receive. It will also help to put the dogs on movie into a must-see event.

"Event marketing, which started in the '80s, is the desire to create a national phenomenon that you must be part of or you aren't with it," Pollock said. "So you have to see the last episode of 'Seinfeld'; you have to watch the Super Bowl; you have to see this particular movie because otherwise you can't comment on it." The hype's effectiveness is a matter of debate. "In a movie like I'm assuming the marketing department knew they had a movie that would not be reviewed well but they could sell well," Pollock said. "Anyone who criticizes them for overhyping that movie is an idiot. Columbia's marketing j6b did a brilliant job on a movie that didn't live up to the hype that it created." The movie's reviews were wretched, and word of mouth apparently has been the pits.

Over the long Memorial Day weekend, "Godzilla" made about $55 million a lot of money for a lousy movie yet far short of the $90.2 million that "The Lost World: 9 BY ALFRED SHEINWOLD and FRANK STEWART Los Angeles Times Syndicate North dealer N-S vulnerable NORTH AKJ1062 OJ KJ104 WEST 8 VA104 OQ106542 987 EAST Q9743 OK983 AQ3 SOUTH 45 OA7 652 East South West Pass 27 Pass Pass 4P All Pass North 2 Opening lead 9 Today's South was a prophet without honors (he lacked the ace or the ten of trumps) and also without accuracy. East took two clubs and led another club. South was relieved when dummy won. "No problem now, partner," South said. "The last prediction I heard," North muttered, "a salesman told me I could assemble my kid's new bike myself in minutes." Spade ruff: Sure enough, South took the ace of diamonds, ruffed a diamond, and led a trump to his king and West's ace.

West then led a spade to dummy. South had to ruff a spade to reach his hand to draw trumps and West over-ruffed! Down one. "I needed the ten of trumps," South sighed. South is safe if he takes one high spade before leading a trump. When West wins, he must put South back in his hand to draw trumps and claim the rest.

(Yes, West always prevails with a spade lead.) Daily question: You hold: 9743H6DK983CAQ3. Your partner opens one club, you bid one spade and he rebids two clubs. The opponents pass. What do you say? Answer: Bid two diamonds, a new suit and hence forcing. Needs MOVIES: Hype surrounding new releases often more exciting Write to Steve Dale at Tribune Media Services, 435 N.

Michigan Suite 1400, Chicago, 60611. Send e-mail to PETWORLDAOLcom. than flick director of all time, and Tom Hanks, whose last two starring vehicles were the smashes "Apollo 13" 1995) and "Forrest Gump" 1994). Yet this World War II rescue-mission story is rated a rarity for a summer release and the ad campaign has focused on the plot and players without loading up on advance quotes. avoid such overkill.

"There are two pictures this summer that were conspicuously unhyped," he said. "One is 'Saving Private over which there's been an extraordinary lack of hype. The other is Until the day it opened, (Disney) really backed away. I think that was in reaction to 'Godzilla' and Unlike previous Disney cartoons released amid a bonanza of merchandising and associated stage shows, "Mulan" opened June 19 with relatively little buildup yet has been earning more money than any animated feature since 1995's "Pocahontas," which it has begun to outpace. (It's up to 101 million in five weeks.) "Saving Private Ryan" is the latest from Steven Spielberg, the most commercially successful From C-5 more of an assault." Columbia Pictures' marketing department certainly showed more creativity in promoting "Godzilla" with signs everywhere approximating the size of the big lizard's various body parts than the filmmakers did in making it.

The marketing budget reportedly was about $50 million, compared to the movie's supposed budget of about $120 million. It has been reported that, after the film received a lukewarm reception at a distributors' screening, the studio actually decided to pump up the marketing spending and hype so that a maximum number of people would be lured to see "Godzilla" before the reviews hit. "Armageddon" cost Disney a reported 140 million to make (the studio's most expensive movie ever) and another $60 million to promote. Among the expenditures were buildings painted to look as if meteors had blasted through them and a mammoth ad campaign packed with overheated quotes from D-level critics to whom studios show movies early so that they'll provide ad copy. The "Armageddon" hype, launched officially with an ad during the Super Bowl, carries over to the movie itself, which is edited like a 30-second commercial at 300 times the length, with cuts every two seconds emphasizing how action-packed it is.

AF1 chairman Tom Pollock, the former motion pictures chairman at Universal Pictures, noted that the point of hype is to turn a When You Need Tile You Want Selection! Over 75,000 sq. ft. of flooring in stock Ceramic tile Vinyl Area rugs See our state of the art ceramic coated wood Tile Outlet Cehter 583 N. Perkins Appleton 954-871 1 Next to The Bargain Bulletin Hours: Mon. Thurs.

8-8 Wed. Frt. 8-5 kites i i mi ami A it Family Growing Doctors. To Meet Your Healthcare Family Doctors KimberlyWelcomes Travis L. Kroner, M.D.

Family Doctors North Welcomes Amy H. Servais, M.D. Women And Investing Luncheon Seminar And BasicIntermediate Bridge Workshop It's a fact in today's world. Women generally live longer than men. That means that if you're a woman and you're not already providing for your own financial future, at some point in your life, you will probably need to.

Special Guest Speaker: Joan Thibodeau Registered Bridge Teacher 34 Years Member, Fox Valley Bridge Association Thursday, August 6th 12:30 P.M. Red Ox Supper Club 2318 S. Oneida Street Appleton 2 Originally from LaCrosse, Wisconsin, Amy Servais received her medical degree from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. She attended the University of Wisconsin Family Practice Residency Program at the Appleton Family Health Center. Amy enjoys golf and A native of Kimberly, Wisconsin, Travis Kroner graduated from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee.

He attended the University of Wisconsin Family Practice Residency Program at the Appleton Family Health Center. Travis enjoys many of the S3' 1 Please invite an interested friend! volleyball, and spending time with her husband Christopher and son Carsten. Dr. Servais will begin seeing patients at Family Midwest summer activities with his wife, Katie and son Kipton. Dr.

Kroner is seeing patients at Family Doctors- Doctors-North on August 3 1st, at 2809 North Park (Drive Lane, Appleton, Wisconsin. This luncheon seminar is free, but seating is limited. Please call before August 4th for reservations. Kevin McCready Investment Representative 3601 Commerce Court, Suite 3 Appleton, WI 54911 920-739-1772 For more information or to schedule an Third Street, Kimberly, to schedule an t1 7680. rClfYUlV IMedH OCtOrS appointment, call 920-738-5792.

Kimberly, at 520 West Wisconsin. For more information or appointment, call 920 United Health 5 788 SIPC thRtrtner i Edwardjones Siofaf hmdul hwrton Sum 1071 Innovation Court Appleton, WI 54 9 1 4 www.unitedhealth.org.