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Blog ID: 574 Posted by LucyPal on Wednesday Oct 31, 2007 8:24 PM EST
Happy Halloween! Prickly Deep Sea Anglerfish!
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Happy Halloween! My last creepy and bizarre creature for Halloween is the Prickly Deep Sea Anglerfish because the female actually absorbs the male into her body. Indeed the male becomes nothing more than a tiny appendage on the body of the large female Anglerfish. Sounds like a scary story to me! Let me know, is this better or worse than the female Praying Mantis eating the head of the male Praying Mantis? I guess it depends on how you look at things.
The species has actually evolved this way because they live in the deep part of the ocean near the ocean floor. It's hard to find a date down there, especially in the dark. So when the male Anglerfish are born, they seek out a female Anglerfish and essentially become one with her.
Male Anglerfish bite onto the body of the female angler and then release a digestive enzyme which digests his skin and the area around where he bit and causes the two of them to merge together. Eventually the male's body shrivels up into a tiny appendage and he lives off of her hard work. Well, he kind of has to since the males have no digestive tract.
Later on, when the female spawns the male is right there to fertilize the eggs. You can see a picture of the male and female anglerfish joined at the hip at the Australian Conservation Foundation http://www.acfonline.org.au/articles/news.asp?news_id=949&c=13533
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Blog ID: 569 Posted by LucyPal on Tuesday Oct 30, 2007 5:23 PM EST
Aye-Aye Causes Big Aieeeh! Amongst Citizens!
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Looks like something out of a scary movie doesn't it? Or at least like a creature right out of Jim Hensons' shop. This is the Aye-Aye and my weird Halloween animal for today. It's a bizarre little bugger that literally eats bugs and lucky for us it only eats bugs and can fit into the palm of the hand. Heh, heh.
This little guy is native to the island of Madagascar, but you never saw him in the recent, popular kids movie. His mug is more suited to radio don't you think? Plus his little rodent like teeth and long, middle finger could scare off quite a few movie goers, young and old. Yet, the Aye-Aye prefers to spend his time in the rainforests and deciduous forests on the eastern coast of Madagascar. He loves crawling around on the trees trunks at night looking for tasty grubs which he can pull out of the bark with his enlongated middle finger.
Interestingly enough, we are related to the Aye-Aye. He's actually a primate. In fact, he is the world's largest nocturnal primate. That's not saying a lot for nocturnal primates since he's only about ten inches long at the most?
For those who can't see this beautiful big picture of the rascally Aye-Aye there is one at Lumq.com and there are more pictures of strange and bizarre creatures. Some you know and some you don't. The Aye-Aye is a dark brown to black color with a smattering of dark brown to black hairs covering its body. It's pointed face gives it the appearance of being related to a fox with very large ears and beady yellow eyes.
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Blog ID: 566 Posted by LucyPal on Monday Oct 29, 2007 8:56 PM EST
Attack of the Featherless Chickens!
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Another weird animal for my Halloween series is the Featherless Chicken. Yes, the entirely featherless chicken is actually a mixed breed of bird. It was bred from a breed of boiler chicken and a chicken with a naturally bare neck. I'm not certain if this bird ever caught on, but it's 'prototype' was first shown in January 2002. Most critics called the bird 'obscene' and 'a freak' because of it strangely bare appearance. The bird has no feathers at all and when it's breed was first created by an Isreali geneticist many claimed that this bird was just another sign of 'sick science' which led most people to believe that the bird was genetically modified. Yet, it was not. The breeder came by these bare naked birds strictly through the breeding process.
It was suggested when these birds first came out that they would be better suited to warmer climates because they were a mixed breed of Boiler Chicken. Plus, they are already pre-plucked. : ) Boiler Chickens are the birds that we normally eat and they are fed lots of food early on to get them to be the largest they can be. Let's not get into animal rights here, I'm just reporting. Anyway eating all of this food causes the birds to produce a lot of heat and so they must be air conditioned to survive, something that is expensive and impractical in certain cases. So the Featherless Chicken comes to the rescue, or so it seems.
However, the critics found that the exact same reason the geneticists were touting the bird-better suited to hot climates-would probably be the reason they were impractical. These birds have no feathers to protect them from sunburn. No one wants the job of slathering sunscreen on thousands of naked birds. It's just not right.
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Blog ID: 563 Posted by LucyPal on Sunday Oct 28, 2007 6:09 PM EST
A Strange Bird: The Kiwi
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The Kiwi Bird is another strange creature, though much less gross than the skin eating worm I mentioned in the last post. It lives in
In the picture above the Kiwi Bird is mockingly being claimed as the source of the Kiwi fruit, which is false, but the picture was so fun I had to post a link to it. You’ll be able to find the post for this picture at www.gosmelltheflowers.com/blog. Just taking a look at a regular Kiwi fruits in the store will show you why this fruit is so named after the bird. It’s quite fuzzy.
Kiwis live underground and though they are birds, they don’t fly. Actually, their dark plumage covers a set of very rudimentary wings, much like chickens. Hot Wings anyone? They are also mostly nocturnal, meaning they hide out during the day and go out at night to forage for their meals. Dinner for the Kiwi Bird is very similar to that of other birds; grubs and worms. Kiwis have very poor eyesight so it’s assumed that they get assistance in their search for food from the long, hairy bristles on the underside of their pointed bills. These bristles are somewhat tactile in nature and may help ‘feel’ around for worms and grubs.
The Kiwi is about the size of a large chicken and also walks with a rolling gait. All in all, I’d say this is a bird voted most likely to show up in a Looney Toons cartoon.
Gals will be interested to know that the male Kiwi Bird is the one responsible for incubating the eggs.
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Blog ID: 561 Posted by LucyPal on Saturday Oct 27, 2007 9:54 PM EST
Strange Animal Mom Feeds Babies with Her Skin
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It's getting to be that Halloween time of year and I thought I'd start sharing with you some of the more unique and interesting animals of our planet. You'd be surprised how strange and weird some creatures really are. There is actually an amphibian that nurses its young by allowing them to tear off its skin. It's called the Boulengerula taitanus and is luckily not all that evolved. I'm sure there are a couple of scary movies that can be modeled after this little worm-like amphibian. The Boulengerula lives in the ground in the Taita Hills of South Eastern Kenya.
There's a picture of this scary, creepy crawly at the BBC News. This amphibian was actually discovered in 1935, but most of its daily habits and life were a mystery until an international scientific team went to Kenya to study it. Hey, remember The Godzilla movie with Matthew Broderick? I think his character studied worms too.
Anywho, these worms hatch out of eggs and use their 'milky teeth' to rip off mom's skin for a tasty meal. All the while mom's sitting back like she's getting some kind of new age spa treatment. I think some spas actually offer that service. Just kidding, really.
The scientists also found that mom's skin becomes thicker and more nutrient rich when she does have babies. They also think that this skin feeding practice may have some parallel to breast feeding in mammals. One thing is for certain, this is the first time we've come across a mom who feeds her young through nutrient rich skin.
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Blog ID: 560 Posted by LucyPal on Friday Oct 26, 2007 11:43 PM EST
Animals, Myths and Legends Offers Good Stories for All
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We love a good tale over here and I came across a site ripe with good animal stories. It's called Animals, Myths and Legends and the site features lots of great animal stories, legends, facts and fun. It is a great site for the kids if you want to download a couple stories to tell them.
I've found a story called, Platypus Plays Tricks posted by a young girl of fourteen years. It's all about how the animals all came to look the way they do and Platypus came to live in the mud near rivers. Here is a brief excerpt to get you started.
Platypus Plays Tricks
Before the dawn of time, all the animals looked the same.
Normally this was fine, but some of the cheekier animals likes to play tricks on Mother Earth and pretend to be other animals.
Since they looked exactly the same, even Mother Earth who had created them couldn't tell the difference!
To try to fix this problem, she decided to make each different animal look different, so they couldn't swap identities.
Now, there were some animals who liked flying through the air, or climbing trees more than anything, but not Platypus. He liked swimming.
At the time Mother Earth sent out her message that she was going to change what everyone looked like, Platypus was under the water, playing with his friend Fish.
Platypus stayed in the water even after Fish had got out, and since sound doesn't travel that well under water, Platypus didn't get to hear Mother Earth's message. It was only when Fish came back looking like a beautiful river fish, with his scales gleaming, that Platypus even knew about the message.
He left immediately for Mother Earth's home, so he too could look different. But by the time he got there, there was only left overs left...
Want to know what happens? Well, you'd better head over and finish the story!
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Blog ID: 558 Posted by LucyPal on Thursday Oct 25, 2007 7:53 PM EST
Do Animals have Episodic Memory?
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In recent animal news, scientists are spending more time researching and testing whether or not animals have what is called ‘Episodic Memory’ or the ability to remember past events and adjust their current behavior to prepare for similar future events.
For a long time most researchers believed that animals didn’t have that ability. They could learn, adjust and adapt but they couldn’t relive the past. A researcher named, Nicola Clayton, a professor of comparative cognition at
In one of her tests Clayton laid out worms and peanuts for Scrub Jays to eat. She found that they usually preferred the worms. However, when a long period of time had elapsed before the Jays found the food they tended to go straight to the peanuts as if all ready realizing the perils of eating spoiled worms. Not something I’d like to go into myself. Blegh!
In another study, which to me is much more convincing, involved looking at how Scrub Jays cached their food. Some Scrub Jays were previous participants in the robbing of other birds caches of hidden food. She found that the birds who had stolen food, tended to be very secretive about where they placed their own caches of food. As if they realized the possibility of having their own food stolen, because of the fact that they’d stolen food in the past from other birds.
These findings are encouraging and do expand on the information we have about the Scrub Jays at least. Other scientists are researching episodic memory in other animals, including a male silverback gorilla and are finding that animals do remember and use those memories to adjust for the future.
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Blog ID: 557 Posted by LucyPal on Thursday Oct 25, 2007 1:01 AM EST
Animals Affected by California Fires Too
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Most of you will be well aware of the large scale wildfires in California at this time. They are causing untold numbers of damage, mind-boggling numbers to be vague. Anyway, the news is saying that over a million people have had to be evacuated and in at least San Diego County there is estimated to be over half a billion dollars in damage. Yes, billion.
Many people in San Diego have been evacuated to Qualcomm Stadium where they are waiting for the fires to recede so they can go home. PetSmart Charities has just dispatched two trailers of pet supplies to the stadium to help treat, feed and otherwise take care of those family pets whom have also been evacuated. You know in all the news and furor over the fires in California, I'm a little sad to say that I never even thought about the animals involved in this. Happily, others did and are doing something about it. The trailers, perkily named Emergancy Relief Waggin' trailers, contains food and supplies for up to 500 companion animals.
The non-profit organization is also raising money to distribute to other charities and relief funds in the areas affected by the fires. They're estimating that the funds will provide lots of needs in medical supplies, vaccinations, food, crates, litter, beds and blankets.
Also, Banfield is sending, listen to this, a Mobile emergancy pet hospital out to help assist with treating animals affected by the fires. This mobile trailer is 32 feet long! It's also staffed by two vetrinarians and three vet technicians. Plus it has a surgical suite.
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Blog ID: 554 Posted by LucyPal on Tuesday Oct 23, 2007 9:19 PM EST
Ellen Degeneres Pleads for Iggy to be Returned
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I don't like getting involved in the Media frenzy, but I had to write up a blog post on Ellen Degeneres' recent problems involving a small puppy named 'Stormy'. For those of you who aren't aware, perhaps you've been living under a small rock for the past two weeks, Ellen Degeneres broke down and cried on her talk show of the same name when relating how the puppy that she'd adopted and then given to her hairstylist was taken back by the adoption agency. She begged the agency to return the puppy and then it became big news.
Why did the adoption agency take the puppy that Ellen bestowed on her hairstylist? Well, Mutts and Moms, the non-profit adoption agency had a clause in the adoption agreement that Ellen signed stating basically that she was to return the puppy to the agency if she didn't feel she could take care of it anymore. Also Mutts and Moms doesn't allow families with children under the age of 14 years to adopt out their dogs and the hairstylist's daughter were both 11 and 12 years old.
Why did Ellen give the puppy to her hair stylist? Well, Ellen and her partner found the the puppy didn't get along with their cats. She'd also invested, I believe, about $3,000 in fixing the puppy, paying adoption fees, training and so on and I guess she probably felt it would be odd to return a dog that didn't work out (It's not the same as returning a pair of shoes you don't like to the store, after all.) and decided to find another home for the puppy on her own, having neglected to read the adoptiong papers.
What happened to the puppy? Well, after 'repossessing' the little puppy named Storm from the hairstylist's house the adoption agency found a new family for him. They aren't releasing any information on the family in an effort to preserve their privacy in this media circus.
How did they find out that she'd given up the puppy? I didn't find out the facts in particular, but I am under the impression that the agency made a follow up call and learned from perhaps Ellen, her partner or one of her people that the puppy had been given to a new home.
Below you can see a clip from the today show all about what's being called the 'Iggy Saga'. I'm interested in hearing from readers on both sides of the debate. Should Ellen have read the contract? Was the adoption agency cruel in snatching back the puppy? Do I need to stop watching Entertainment Tonight?
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Blog ID: 551 Posted by LucyPal on Monday Oct 22, 2007 4:20 PM EST
Beagle Belle Honored for Saving Owner's Life
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Keep your friends close, but your Beagle closer still! A man's companion dog, a Beagle named Belle actually saved her owner's life by dialing 911. The owner, Kevin Weaver, is a diabetic. One day his blood sugar dropped dangerously low and he had a seizure and collapsed before he was able to summon help. Belle is trained to bite the number 9 on Kevin's cell phone if he ever got into trouble. This automatically dials 911 and summoned the help that Kevin desperately needed. It's amazing that we can teach our friends and companions these amazing things and that they are able to determine when we ourselves are in need of help and know what to do about it.
I've written about animals that people claimed have saved their lives before, some of which were iffy to me, such as the case of the large dog that jumped up and down on a woman's chest to dislodge something she was choking on. To me, this Beagle story is one genuine case of an animal saving the life of a human.
Belle was honored in Washington D.C. on Monday for doing her duty. She became the first canine recipient to win the VITA Wireless Samaritan Award, which is given to someone who uses a cell phone to save a life, prevent crime and help in an emergency. Go Belle!
Belle also acts as Kevin Weaver's own personal blood sugar monitor. She will occasionally hop up and lick Weaver's nose. Somehow this puppy-lick meter allows her to discern when his blood sugar is out of whack and she'll start whining and pawing at him. Weaver tests his levels every time this happens and sure enough Belle is right on the nose. I guess he sort of forgot to test his sugar levels the time he collapsed?
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Blog ID: 548 Posted by LucyPal on Sunday Oct 21, 2007 11:59 PM EST
A Couple of Great Frog Jokes
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Everyone loves a good joke, especially an animal joke. Most are fairly simple, but you never would have thought of the punch line. I came across a couple of good jokes today and thought I'd share them with you. Remember, a joke a day keeps the sad away!
A lonely frog, desparate for any form of company telephoned the Psychic Hotline to find out what his future has in store.
His Personal Psychic Advisor advises him, "You are going to meet a beautiful young girl who will want to know everything about you."
The frog is thrilled and says, "This is great! Where will I meet her, at work, at a party?"
"No" says the psychic, "in a Biology class."
Suffice it to say that poor frog did meet his soulmate eventually...I know this is a bad joke for those who disapprove of animal dissections, so lets move onto another funny frog joke.
The Chickens and the Librarian
A pair of chickens walk into a public library, find the librarian and say, 'Buk Buk BUK.' The librarian decides that the chickens want three books, and promptly gives them some. Without further ado, the chickens walk out.
Around midday, the two chickens are back and looking quite annoyed. One leans over to the librarian and says,' Buk Buk BuKKOOK!' The librarian decides that the chickens want another three books and promptly gives them some more. The chickens leave as before.
About an hour later the two birds march back in, approach the librarian, looking very angry now and nearly shouting, 'Buk Buk Buk Buk Bukkooook!'
The librarian is now starting to get worried about where all her stock is going. She decides to give them more books but also to follow them and find out what's happening.
She followed them out of the library, out of town, and into to a park. At this point, she hid behind a tree, not wanting to be seen.
She saw the two chickens throwing the books at a frog in a pond, to which the frog was kept repeating, "Rrredit Rrredit Rrredit..."
You may have to say the words out loud to really get this joke. I'm wondering exactly how the chickens are able to carry those books they keep asking for?
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Blog ID: 546 Posted by LucyPal on Saturday Oct 20, 2007 9:30 PM EST
The Things Pets Steal can get Them in Trouble
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When it comes to pet ownership there are a lot of manuals and guides on caring for your pet but the actual act of caring for, living with and loving your pets is an ongoing learning process. Many people realize this and are able to adjust to unexpected developments with easy. Others have some trouble and they sadly, never bond well with their pets or may even end up giving the pet away as a result. I can remember making a lot of mistakes with my pets, especially my pal Lucy when she was still alive. Yet, having her around was one of the most fulfilling and satisfying things in my life.
That’s not to say she was easy going. When Lucy was a young dog, being a hound dog she was always energetic about everything. She had hyper walkies, hyper begging and hyper eating. She was also very crafty about some things, but didn’t make the best decisions when it came to food. One Christmas in particular Mom was finishing up a Christmas ham which she had baked in one of those oven bags. I’m not exactly certain about the precise order of things, having been in the other room. However, it seems Mom took the ham out of the oven and placed it on the counter. From there she pulled the ham out of the oven bag and turned to place it nicely on a platter.
The dog had been lurking about in the kitchen and while mom had her back turned she jumped up and snatched the oven bag from the counter. The smell of ham juices apparently convinced Lucy that this was some novel kind of ham flavored skin. It was down her throat before we could do anything. It’s incredible lucky that Lucy didn’t choke on the oven bag to say the least. Of course it also wasn’t able to pass through her system and she ended up, well, depositing it back on the carpet later on.
The moral of the story, keep an eye on your pets around the holidays and not just because they’ll eat people food, but because they just might be clever enough to nab the wrappings you keep the food in.
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Blog ID: 543 Posted by LucyPal on Friday Oct 19, 2007 7:10 PM EST
Man Flicks Cigarette Butt at Bees, Setting Fire to his House
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I guess smoking is hazardous to more than just your health. It’s also bad for your home as a man who accidentally burnt down his house figured out back in August. Don’t worry, animals figure into this story too!
The man was a resident of
The still lit cigarette butt landed up near the roof overhang and managed to catch the dry material on fire. The place caught fire and so the fire department had to be called out. It is estimated that the damage to the home is at least $60,000 with lots of damage to the rear roof where the fire started.
Both the man and the bees were forcibly evicted from the damaged house. Unfortunately the man did not have homeowner’s insurance coverage so he may not be getting the house fixed anytime soon. He’s made some arrangements to move in with his friends. The bees are assumed to have been able to set up a new hive in another place, perhaps a nice big tree somewhere.
Seems silly to lose so much over the simple act of flicking a cigarette butt; he lost his house to tobacco and to not bothering to put out the cigarette butt. Well, maybe the unidentified homeowner will choose to give up the cigarettes as the price is just too high!
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Blog ID: 541 Posted by LucyPal on Thursday Oct 18, 2007 10:18 PM EST
Seven Foot Python Lurks in Toilet
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I guess there is something to all those scary stories about the sewers under
The massive snake was peeking up out of the toilet when she glanced over and saw it. Most of its body still remained in the toilet and pipes. Luckily, the woman had great instincts. She screamed, slammed down the toilet lid and placed a heavy box on top of it to keep the python from lifting up the lid and slithering out. Brunacci also started calling for help, very loudly. Her landlord came up and they also got the fire department to come out.
However, the process in which one removes a 7 foot python from the plumbing turned out to be a long and arduous one. I guess they didn’t have any tasty mice on hand to lure the snake out with. Plumbers ended up having to tear out the downstairs plumbing in the apartment building to find the snake and catch it. No one is really clear on how the snake got into the plumbing in the first place.
Brunacci though scarred by the ordeal held no grudges against the snake. She ended up giving it to a friend who now keeps the python as a pet and has named it after her. She on the other hand now claims that she no longer uses the toilet, but has made the switch to her daughter’s training toilet and she looks over her shoulder when brushing her teeth. I guess her daughter’s toilet training is probably going to be put on hold until intensive therapy clears up the psychological scars.
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Blog ID: 538 Posted by LucyPal on Wednesday Oct 17, 2007 6:30 PM EST
Traveling with Pets
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Do you know that 77% of pet owners frequently take their pets with them when they leave town to go on a trip? That's what BringYourPet.com found in one of its polls. I'm wondering what the other 23% do with their pets. I've had all manner of pets from turtles to rats and from dogs to cats and we really decided to bring our pets with us depending on their independence. Cats were okay for a couple of days, dogs were not. We didn't want to force our pets on other people to 'petsit' while we went off and enjoyed ourselves. I'm pretty sure that most of the people I know would have said a straight 'No' to any requests anyway.
According to this poll many people share my feelings concerning the independence of cats and dogs. 84.6% of pet owners traveled with their dogs, while a scant 6.3% of pet owners traveled with their cats. Why, we'd get out a large bowl and just dump an entire bag of cat food in it, as well as place a couple large bowls of water out for the cat and let him know we'd be back on monday. Of course, it never hurts to leave the lid of the toilet up so he can get a fresh drink of water or two. Just kidding.
Cats also have a hard time traveling anyway. They can get very nervous and become a danger in the vehicle. I've had to on occasion place the kitty in a pillow case when traveling to the vet, but this is a dangerous task in of itself. Hopefully, your cat is declawed.
What have your travel experiences been with your pets? Anyone here ever tried to put their cat into a pillow case to keep it calm on a car trip?
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Blog ID: 534 Posted by LucyPal on Tuesday Oct 16, 2007 3:29 PM EST
5,000 Birds Siezed in Largest Cockfighting Raid in US
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Well, the Michael Vick of Cockfighting rings has been busted recently when more than 5,000 birds and 50 people were arrested in the largest cockfighting ring in American history. Yes, they arrested the birds too. Birds can be quite mean when they’ve been in fights, hanging out with the wrong sorts of people and so on.
There were several law enforcement agencies involved in multiple raids in
Most of the people arrested have been charged with misdemeanors and released. Also five of the people arrested in the raids were actually members of the U.S. Military. Still 50 more people are still being sought.
There were also hundreds of pieces of evidence seized in relation to the raids, including knives, cockfighting videos, medical supplies, computers, photos and even underground cockfighting publications. I didn’t even know that the cockfighting underground had publications!
This is a major win for the DA and animal lovers around the world against the barbarism of Cockfighting. It’s illegal in the
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Blog ID: 532 Posted by LucyPal on Monday Oct 15, 2007 11:08 PM EST
The Adventures of Marvelous Mercer
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There’s a new children’s book series coming out that’s very inspirational for families, kids and pet lovers alike. They are the tails of Marvelous Mercer the aid dog. The story of how these children’s books came to be is truly inspirational. Mercer is a real dog who helps a little girl with a degenerative disease called spinal muscular atrophy type 2 (SMA2). This is a very rare condition that only about 300 people in
Mercer’s little girl is Shea and she’s the young novelist behind the stories, which are fictional accounts of adventures she’d like to have with her dog. Shea originally wrote the short stories in her diary and didn’t think that anyone would be reading them, until her Mom came across it. She read the stories and realized that she was seeing a part of her daughter she never knew existed, the part that dreamed about being able to do things that the other kids were doing.
From there Shea’s mom spoke with a friend in publishing about the diary entries and the friend encouraged her to self-publish them in a book. Seems like it would make a lovely keepsake if nothing else, but then Shea’s mom took it a step further and presented the book and ideas to a toy company and publisher at an annual audition and they bought a series of six books on the spot.
Now the world will be able to enjoy the adventures that Shea’s dog Mercer helps her achieve through her creative imagination. Plus some of the proceeds from the book will go towards research into treatments for Shea’s condition and towards Canine Companions for
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Blog ID: 531 Posted by LucyPal on Sunday Oct 14, 2007 4:53 PM EST
Pet Pupperware Parties Bring Big Fans
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I've written about humans buying up lots of special treats, toys and even clothing for their best pals previously. Now there is a new trend in the pet market, Pupperware parties!
It's just like it sounds. Sales people bring their pet related wares to a party held by a hostess or host and a group of guests to hock them! These guests, by the way usually bring along their pet pals for the free samples.
One company in particular is Shure Pets based in Chicago. They are taking advantage of the recent development of Home Pet Parties. They have over 1,600 individual pet consultants who arrange to push their pet wares at home pet parties. The company which was started in 2003 has been doing very well, showing that people do indeed love to pamper their pets.
Though it's still a tiny company, on average their pet consultants bring in about $400 of sales at each party. The consultants get 25% of the sales as commissions, the attendees get free samples for their pets and the hosts of the party get to rack up credits with the pet product company towards purchases. It ends up being a pretty good deal.
You could find a lot of different supplies that are useful for your pets. There are dry shampoos if the pooch finds wet baths unpleasant, scented spritzers to improve the odor of your pet’s coat, pet treats that are all natural and organic and very durable toys. There is one yellow Frisbee that is touted to stand up to the chewing attacks of the largest Great Danes.
So far there these parties aren't up on the level of the Mary Kay events, so you probably won't be earning a fulltime living with them, but they sound like a nice way to meet and greet the other pet lovers in your area while picking up some extra cash.
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Blog ID: 530 Posted by LucyPal on Sunday Oct 14, 2007 4:41 PM EST
Pupperware Parties Bring in the Pooch Lovers
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Blog ID: 528 Posted by LucyPal on Saturday Oct 13, 2007 10:59 PM EST
Amazing Skidboot Understands More than Pet Tricks
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It is really amazing what animals can pick up on and I'm not just referring to those tales of an animal's 6th sense, which are also pretty cool. I'm referring to their depth of understanding of the world and capability to understand much more about us than we do about them
Case and point is the Amazing Skidboot, who is really a dog. Not sure what his name means, but he really is one clever pooch as you'll see in this YouTube video.
Skidboot's owner, David Hartwig, credits his poochy pal with all the success he's met on television and in contests, because Skidboot was the one who did all the performing. Hartwig just gave verbal commands and looked pretty. Apparently, Skidboot loves to learn and has picked up all the standard pet tricks and more. It seems pretty unbelievable how quickly Skidboot picks up on some tricks in the video, but he does. My own dog wouldn't so much as look at me twice when it came to some of the more involved commands, like roll over or attack, but I simply choose to believe that she knew who was top dog around the house and it wasn't me.
Still, there are hundreds of stories like Skidboot's around the world and there are certainly tons of animal actors working in Hollywood. Are they really a different breed of smarter animal? Or could it just be the people who work with these amazing animals are able to access some desire to learn more and be active in these animals?
I'd love to hear from anyone on here who happens to have an amazing animal of their own. Who knows? I might even blog of that fun pet of yours and don't think I'll be mammal-biased. Reptiles, amphibians and fish can also be amazing animals.
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Blog ID: 527 Posted by LucyPal on Friday Oct 12, 2007 10:39 PM EST
Don't Leave Animals on the Doorstep of the Animal Shelter! Take them Inside
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There is a tendency amongst some pet owners, or shall I say former pet owners, to simply drop their animals off at the doorstep of the local animal shelter or even worse put them out in the middle of nowhere when the owner feels that he or she can’t take care of the pet anymore. This is a bad habit!
I can see why some would leave the animals on the front doorstep of their local humane society. Perhaps they arrive with the pets when the society is closed for the day. Maybe they are being evicted and just can’t keep the pet so they do what they can and tie the pet pooch to the handle of the front door so he or she will be found the next morning. However this kind of behavior occurs way too frequently for it to always be the result of a dire emergency. I think that there are just a lot of people who are too lazy to come back the next day when the shelter is open actually take their pet in to relinquish him or her.
There is nothing wrong with admitting that you can’t take care of your pet. But you do have the responsibility to end your ‘relationship’ the right way by making sure that cat or dog or animal actually makes it inside the shelter or even into another person’s home.
I can’t tell you how often the whole dumping them scenario goes bad. We used to go camping in this little out of the way state park and on numerous occasions would end up running into cats and dogs that were just living in the woods. Why? There was a local animal shelter not two miles outside the state park and former pet owners loved to just drop their friends in a box on the front doorsteps. Naturally a lot of animals got loose and turned ‘feral’. Most of the animals we ran into, we gathered up and drove down to the shelter ourselves, but I imagine there were dozens more who never ran into a Good Samaritan. Eventually we stopped camping at that park because gangs of feral cats got too aggressive with the campers.
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Blog ID: 525 Posted by LucyPal on Thursday Oct 11, 2007 9:02 PM EST
A Little Bedtime Reading on Animals
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I love the tails, pardon my spelling, that are Aesop's Fables. So many of these are very short stories of only a paragraph or two, but they impart a deep kind of knowledge. Every story teaches you something. These morals don't teach about math or science, but they do teach about essential the qualities of life. There are stories about learning to work for the future, how to choose the right friends, and even the folly in always trying to best others, not that doing your best isn't a good thing. : )
So I encourage everyone to pick up a book of Aesop's Fables and keep them on hand. They make great bedtime stories for yourself or the kids. I'll leave you with one of my favorite stories, if you like it drop in at Aesop's Fables to read some more.
The Lion and the Mouse
A Lion was awakened from sleep by a Mouse running over his face. Rising up angrily, he caught him and was about to kill him, when the Mouse piteously entreated, saying: "If you would only spare my life, I would be sure to repay your kindness." The Lion laughed and let him go. It happened shortly after this that the Lion was caught by some hunters, who bound him by strong ropes to the ground. The Mouse, recognizing his roar, came and gnawed the rope with his teeth and set him free, exclaiming:In this tail, it seems even the littlest of friends can prove to be beneficial. One should never underestimate the value of a favor owed.
"You ridiculed the idea of my ever being able to help you, expecting to receive from me any repayment of your favor; now you know that it is possible for even a Mouse to con benefits on a Lion."
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Blog ID: 524 Posted by LucyPal on Wednesday Oct 10, 2007 11:55 PM EST
Pick of the Litter: Most Popular Pets in America
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I just recently wrote about some of the best and healthiest places for pets to live in the United States so it seemed only fair to also write about some of the most popular pets in the states today. That way readers can pick up one of the most popular pets to be their best pal and head to Denver, Colorado, the healthiest place for pets to live, and carry on a happy life.
It seems that the most popular pet is not the dog. It is in fact Freshwater Fish. Yep, look out dogs and cats because those little goldfish are really starting to add up. In total the 2007 National Pet Owners Survey found that there were about 142 million freshwater fish kept as pets. I'm not sure but I don't believe that includes the multiple numbers of goldfish that most people usually keep on hand because, after all you don't want your pet fish to get lonely all by itself do you?
Next most popular on the list is the cat, the surveyor of the castle, nibbler of the kibble, kicker of the kitty litter and so on. Cats, I assume, are more popular simply out of the virtue that more apartment complexes allow cats than dogs. The dog, Man's best friend, carrier of the daily paper, rescuer of trapped individuals, biter of burglars came in third as the most popular pet.
Birds came in 4th on the most popular list and then assorted small animals. I'm assuming these small animals are mammals like the Guinea Pig, Ferret and Hamster. I had a pet rat once, so I know they can be incredibly adorable and highly portable, too. Unless, you are accosted by a gang of feral cats, but that is a story for later.
Here's the list of most popular animals and their approximate numbers;
142 million freshwater fish
88.3 million cats
74.8 million dogs
16 million birds
24.3 million small animals
13.8 million horses
13.4 million reptiles
9.6 million saltwater fish
Isn't it strange that fish rounded out both the top and the bottom of the list?
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Blog ID: 522 Posted by LucyPal on Tuesday Oct 9, 2007 12:47 PM EST
Animal Blessings for Feast of Saint Francis Last Sunday
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In Lima, Peru on Sunday a blessing was held for animals as part of the celebration of the Feast Day of Saint Francis of Assisi on October 4th. The blessing was given by a pries on the steps of the Convent of Saint Francis. Every year the Convent holds a special blessing ceremony and hundreds, maybe thousands of people bring their pets to be blessed in the Saint's honor.Follow the link to Yahoo.com to watch a short video of the animals being blessed. Just about every kind of pet you can think of is there with their owners for the blessing, from dogs to monkeys. The service began with prayers followed by a blessing of the animals with holy water.
Saint Francis is the patron saint of animals, birds and the environment in the Catholic Church. He was born around September 26, 1181 to a wealthy businessman, but eventually rejected his family's riches and took on a life of poverty. He spent time begging for the poor, rebuilding decaying churches and even managed to have his own order of monks, The Franciscans, founded by the Pope. There were many miracles attributed to and surrounding Saint Francis during his life and even after his death. He preached to the birds, helped form a pact between a hungry wolf and a local town and thanked his donkey when near death for carrying and helping him throughout life. It's said that the donkey actually wept.
Many pet owners at the blessing of Saint Francis on Sunday claimed that he has helped to save their pets from illness and death so they continue bringing their favorite pals to the ceremony each year. Others come for their pets blessing just in case. If there were a local animal blessing ceremony being held by the church would you go and take your pets?
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Blog ID: 520 Posted by LucyPal on Monday Oct 8, 2007 2:38 PM EST
Pet Breeders in Houston, Texas Now Need a $100 Permit
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Dog and cat breeders in Houston, Texas could be in violation of the law. The city has recently passed an ordinance requiring pet breeders of cats and dogs that haven't been spayed or neutered to get a $100 permit. The ordinance came into effect on July 1st and it covers the small breeders, occassional breeders and professional breeders. So everyone who owns an uneutered cat or dog and are planning on selling it or it's puppies or kittens needs to apply for this permit. The funny part though is that no one has actually applied for the permit in Houston since the law took effect. There may be dozens or more businesses and people in violation of the law at the current moment, since it seems improbable that area breeders have just closed up shop over a little $100 permit. Any breeders living in Houston may want to go and get that permit because they'll soon be cracking down on it.
The city has alerted area vetrinarians about the new ordinance so they'll be able to spread the word to any of their clients. Houston's Animal Regulation Bereau will be searching the newspaper classifieds later this week to contact any animal breeders they can find and let them know about the new ordinance. After a certain amount of time to let owners and breeders know about the law they'll send out warning letters to first-time offenders without permits asking them to get the permit within 30 days or stop selling animals. After that the fines will start up. Fines for not carrying a permit can range from $50 to $2,000.
Anyone who has already picked up an animal breeder permit has no need to worry. The Animal Regulation Bereau is asking that breeders with permits do start including their permit numbers in the classified ads they put out, but I don't believe its required right now. Just make sure you get that permit before the city starts handing out fines!
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Blog ID: 516 Posted by LucyPal on Sunday Oct 7, 2007 7:31 PM EST
DNA Tests to FInd Out the Breed of your Mixed Mutt
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Dog owners are now able to get their mutts DNA tested at an affordable price. If you have a pet dog and are curious about their mixed ancestry just get a DNA test. It will determine the breeds of most dogs all the way back to their great grand parents. Most tests that are available won’t be able to tell what breeds make up your favored pets background beyond their grandparents as the genetics tend to get muddied.
There are currently a couple of different tests available on the market. More are undoubtedly on their way because the pet market is big business. Mars Veterinary has recently released a new test that uses blood samples that are taken by veterinarians and sent to a lab in
There is another test that’s cheaper and you don’t need to take your dog into a vet to have it done. This is a mouth swab test that costs about $65 and is produced by MetaMorphix. It currently lets owners know of 38 different breeds of those recognized by the Kennel Club. Although the company plans on having 115 breeds available by the end of the year.
Mars Veterinary officials say that up to 86 percent of pet owners don’t know about the ancestry of their pets. Although not all of those owners would be willing to pay a lot of money to find out the ancestry of the mixed breed dogs that they love so well. It’s just that there isn’t any particular medical reason to have the ancestry of one’s dog checked out. Most owners pay for DNA testing to confirm the parentage of their prize winning pooches.
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Blog ID: 513 Posted by LucyPal on Saturday Oct 6, 2007 9:41 AM EST
Best Cities to Live for your Pets!!
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Those with pets will be glad to know that Purina Pet Institute has recently completed a study to find which cities in America are the healthiest for pets. You know that if you are an animal lover and planning on moving you'll want to find a nice pet friendly place to move to.
The Purina Institute looked at 30 different criteria from number of veterinarians to pets to the recent legislation on rabies to determine which cities are the best. The top five healthiest cities for pets are:
1. Denver, Colo.
2. Oakland, Calif.
3. Portland, Ore.
4. Anaheim, Calif.
5. San Francisco, Calif.
Denver, Colorado already sounded like a nice place to live, but it suddenly got a lot better.
This study is also important because it revealed many important facts about pet health and the growing problem of pet obesity. Many of the veterinarians surveyed as part of this study stated that over half of the pets in the country are being overfed. Another one of a kind 14-year-study found that giving your dog a proper diet and the correct amount of food over a lifetime will increase their number of healthy years. That is something I should have paid more attention too.
In addition to the top five cities the Purina study found that:
· San Francisco has the lowest cigarette usage and has zero ozone days. Great for pets with asthma.
· New York City and Oakland have the most neutered dogs. Not sure if that's really considered a good thing by your pet pooch.
· New Orleans actually scored with the highest percentage of dogs with an ideal body weight (50%). Of course, these dogs also spent way too much time partying.
· Columbus, Ohio had the highest ratio of veterinarians-to-number of pets with one vet for every 745 pets. That's still better than waiting in line to get a seat in Spago's.
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Blog ID: 511 Posted by LucyPal on Friday Oct 5, 2007 10:00 PM EST
Rescued Horses in Need of Hay