Pet News

Couple Splits Up -- Pet Custody Battle Begins

10/06/08 -- Five years ago, Sara Vreed got embroiled in soap-opera-style custody arrangements with her ex-boyfriend -- and they don't even have children. What was at stake were the living arrangements for their 5-year-old canine, a Shetland sheepdog named Ivo.

After we broke up, my ex got Ivo on the weekends," says Vreed, 31, an associate at an architecture firm in Portland, Oregon. "But it was really taxing on (the dog), and he started having a lot of behavior problems."

Things changed when Vreed's ex got his own Shetland sheepdog, Tuk, and the two pets became friendly during visits. Like children scheming to get their parents back together, the visitation led to a reconciliation, but even two cute pooches couldn't prevent a second breakup. Read More Of This Story
Source: CNN.com

Pets Take Bite Out of Dorm Life

09/23/08 -- Kristina Durkoske figures Vinny is about as perfect a roommate as anyone could hope for. He's cheerful and adaptable, likes her friends and is respectful of the other dormitory residents. And when Durkoske is stressed, he does what he can to help.

"He really is my baby," says Durkoske, 20. Six-year-old Vinny is her family's bichon frise. Vinny has traveled with her to Mexico, Canada and Italy and now shares her dorm room at Washington & Jefferson College near Pittsburgh, Read More Of This Story

Dewey The Library Cat Is Back On The Shelves

09/18/08 -- SPENCER, Iowa -- Driving into this county seat of 11,000 people, the first thing a visitor sees is the white water tower that dominates the landscape. The town's name is up there. So are two huge paws.

The tiger paws are for the mascot of Spencer High School's athletic teams. They could also be for a cat named Dewey, a local legend.

Abandoned as a kitten in the Spencer Public Library's book-return box one January night in 1988, Dewey was adopted by librarians and named by the town in a write-in contest. He lived happily ever after at the library, sleeping in the stacks (he liked Westerns), riding the book cart, leaping from fluorescent light fixtures and sitting on patrons' laps. Read More

Houston Area Shelters Fill Post Ike

09/17/08 -- After the first day of animal rescues in Galveston, 60 animals that survived Hurricane Ike had been rounded up and taken to the temporary shelter managed by the Houston SPCA, which came with about 3,000 animal crates.

The menagerie includes dogs, cats, a gecko, a rabbit, a hermit crab and a hedgehog.

The volunteers will keep the pets happy and healthy until they are reunited with their humans, said Meera Nandlal, Houston SPCA public relations manager who is among the staffers in Galveston. Read More.

Mars Pet Foods Voluntary Recall

Franklin, Tennessee (September 12, 2008)—Today, Mars Petcare US announced a voluntary recall of products manufactured at its Everson, Pennsylvania facility. The pet food is being voluntarily recalled because of potential contamination with Salmonella serotype Schwarzengrund. This voluntary recall only affects the United States.

Salmonella can cause serious infections in dogs and cats, and, if there is cross contamination caused by handling of the pet food, in people as well, especially children, the aged, and people with compromised immune systems. Healthy people potentially infected with Salmonella should monitor themselves for some or all of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping and fever. On rare occasions, Salmonella can result in more serious ailments, including arterial infections, endocarditis, arthritis, muscle pain, eye irritation, and urinary tract symptoms. Consumers exhibiting these signs after having contact with this product should contact their healthcare providers. Read Full Press Release and List of Recalled Pet Food.

Formerly Extinct Frogs Survive In Australia

09/11/08 - SYDNEY, Australia (AP) -- A tiny frog species thought by many experts to be extinct has been rediscovered alive and well in a remote area of Australia's tropical north, researchers said Thursday.

The 40 millimeters-long (1.5 inch) Armoured Mistfrog had not been seen since 1991, and many experts assumed it had been wiped out by a devastating fungus that struck northern Queensland state. Read More

Fort Chafee Rescues Pets From Gustav

09/02/08 - FORT SMITH, Ark. -- Hurricane Katrina forced hundreds of families to abandon their pets.

But this time around, the government and animal activists are making sure it doesn't happen again.

Fort Chaffee has set up a tent to house the animals of Gustav evacuees.

There are currently eight to 11 pets inside that tent -- animals ranging from dogs, to cats, to ferrets, and even fish.

As evacuees head for safety, they're making sure their pets are taken care of too.

"It's very important. He’s one of us," said Gerica Green, a Gustav evacuee who brought her dog with her. Read More

Publicity May Drive Pet Choice

08/25/08 - Uno the beagle, Westminster's first-ever beagle winner of best-in-show, might be starting a trend.

Even in retirement at age 3, he will shape breed choices in pet selection because history has shown that breed popularity is greatly influenced by publicity.

When the huge hit movie "101 Dalmatians" premiered, the effect was almost immediate. Veterinarians everywhere began seeing spots, as parents of youngsters bought as many Dalmatians as puppy breeders could turn out. Children squealed with delight as they opened ribboned boxes of puppy love.

Not once on the screen did even one of those puppies poop or pee. Not one pup in the movie grew up to be an 85 pound dog. Read More

Elephants' Long Memories May Save Young Lives

08/11/08 - Ever wish your grandma could forget your fifth grade talent show (or at least lose the pictures from it)? Don't expect to relate to an elephant. Matriarch memories may be key to pachyderms' survival, according to a study by the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).

Old female elephants hold on to memories of distant, life-sustaining sources of food and water. That's the kind of information that will keep a herd alive in times of famine and drought -- and the kind of edge old matriarchs seem to give their herds, according to a paper in The Royal Society's Biology Letters. Read More

Uncertain Future For Elephants Of Thailand

08/01/08 - Worries over the future of Thailand' s famous elephants have emerged following an investigation by a University of Manchester team.

Professor Rosaleen Duffy and Dr Lorraine Moore from the University' s School of Social Sciences say many problems have endured since the ending of the logging trade which employed virtually all Thai elephants in 1989.

The ban made 2,000 animals and their Mahouts - or trainers - unemployed overnight, forcing many onto the streets to beg for cash.Read More

NASCAR Driver Donates Bulletproof Vests For Police Dogs

07/28/08 - NASCAR driver Tony Stewart is donating bulletproof, stab-proof vests to police dogs in Indiana and four other states, including Georgia.

Stewart, a Columbus,GA. native, donated the money to provide 30 vests for the Indiana State Police K-9 unit and 10 for police dogs waiting for vests in Georgia, New Mexico, North Carolina and Minnesota.

Stewart Foundation for vests for the 14 dogs currently in the Indiana State Police unit. Stewart upped the amount to cover more vests upon learning the state police unit was expanding to 30 dogs. The vests cost $895 each, according to information provided by the foundation, meaning 40 vests would total more than $35,000. Read More

Dolphin Call Tells Calf Who's Mum

07/23/08 - Female bottlenose dolphins whistle 10 times more often than usual after giving birth in order to help newborns recognise who is "mum".

The findings by a US team appear in the journal Marine Mammal Science.

These "signature whistles" are unique to each animal, allowing them to be used for identification.

Bottlenose dolphins are highly social; in their first weeks, calves encounter many adult females that they could potentially mistake for their mothers. Read More

Pet Parrot Bob Saves Family From Fire

07/22/08 - A noisy pet parrot has been credited with saving the lives of a family after it raised the alarm as fire spread through their home.

Francis Hall and his sons, Sam, 18, and Trevor, 40, were asleep when the blaze began in the kitchen of their home in Fair Oak, Hants, at 6.25am on Sunday.

They were woken by Bob, the three-year-old African grey parrot, whose squawking became frantic, as the flames spread to the living room.

The trio escaped the burning property, grabbing the bird's cage as they fled to the garden. All three suffered smoke inhalation, while the parrot survived unscathed. Read More

Dog Groups Jump For Treats from Helmsley Foundation

07/14/08 - Animal welfare groups are set to try to fetch some of Leona Helmsley's vast fortune.

At least two groups are eyeing the hotel queen's estate -- estimated to be up to $8 billion -- after a report Helmsley wanted her fortune to go to the dogs.

The real estate baroness, sometimes called "The Queen of Mean" for the imperious way she treated her staff, died in August. The New York Times reported Tuesday on its Web site that she left instructions that her estate be spent on the care and welfare of dogs.

While the instructions are not part of her will, and there may be wiggle room for the estate's trustees, the Times reported that courts consider expressions of intent.

The Humane Society of the United States and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said they will be suggesting programs and applying for funds if Helmsley's billions end up funding dog welfare.

"You could solve the pet overpopulation problem," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Read More

House Cat Adopts Baby Panda

07/11/08 - A house cat in Holland nursing her own kittens has adopted an abandoned baby red Panda

The panda’s mother, Gladys, rejected her two cubs after they were born on June 30. "She left them there, lying in the cold,“ said spokesman Bart Kret. The Artis zoo initially kept the cubs in an incubator. But a keeper’s tabby cat had just given birth to four kittens, and let the two panda cubs join the crowd. One of the cubs was too weak and died last Thursday. The surviving cub is still smaller than the kittens, who were born three days before her. However, if she survives to be an adult, she will be slightly larger than a cat. Kret said the cub will drink milk for about three months, after which she can start eating bamboo and fruit. Read More

Princess On Her Way To Being A Healthy 3-Legged Cat

07/09/08 - Just days after getting her leg amputated, Princess is curiously hobbling around home, playing with toy mice and enjoying a favorite scratching post.

The nine-month-old kitten underwent surgery last week to have one of its hind legs removed after being shot with a pellet gun on June 25 near its Owen Sound,Canada home.

The pellet shattered Princess’s leg bone, sliced through the nerves and became lodged in the muscle.

Princess’s owner, Heidi McFaul, said she faced two options after the shooting — have the pet euthanized or pay a $2,000 veterinarian bill to have the leg amputated at the hip. Read More

Plan to Kill Wild Horses Runs Into Trouble

07/08/08 - Animal rights activists and ranchers are clashing over a federal proposal to euthanize wild horses as a way to deal with their surplus numbers.

Horse advocates will mount a campaign against the proposal announced late last month by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, said Chris Heyde, deputy director of government and legal affairs for the Animal Welfare Institute based in Washington, D.C.

Federal officials said they're faced with tough choices because wild horses have overpopulated public lands in the West and they no longer can afford to care for the number of animals that have been rounded up. Read More

Rescued From War: Tales of Puppy Love

07/03/08 - Cinnamon is a mixed-breed dog whose gaze, those who love her say, redefines the term puppy-dog eyes.

Navy officer Mark Feffer of Annapolis, Md., fell in love with Cinnamon during his first few days in Afghanistan. When Feffer's tour ended, he couldn't bear to leave Cinnamon behind.

The mission to bring the animal stateside — despite military regulations against doing so — almost ended when the puppy went missing, but after a frantic 44-day search across Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan, the dog arrived safely in the USA.

Two years after the lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve struggled to bring the red-furred pooch home, a program called Operation Baghdad Pups is easing the process for other servicemembers who want to bring stray dogs home when they leave Iraq or Afghanistan. Read More

DNA Tests Sniff Out Mutts' Breeding

06/27/08 - Through the marvels of DNA testing, some of the greatest mysteries of Mutt-dom are being revealed.

Dogs of vague or unrecognizable ancestry — whether fluffy white mongrels with Chihuahua ears and beagle-like voices or massive hounds that resemble nothing previously seen in nature — are being exposed for what they really are, genetically speaking.

DNA testing can disclose what breeds dominate their family trees. And thousands of people are happy to pay, about $60 to $170 depending on the method and company chosen, to end the what-do-you-suppose-he-is speculation of mixed-breed dog owners everywhere. Read More

Cloned Cancer Sniffing Pups

06/23/04 - Less than three years after cloning the world's first dog, a Korean biotechnology company said Monday it successfully cloned four canines that can sniff out human cancer cells.

The cloning team of RNL Bio, led by Seoul National University (SNU) professor Lee Byeong-chun, in April implanted into a surrogate mother cloned fetuses from a black retriever named Marine, a widely-recognized cancer-sniffing dog trained in Japan.

``The four black retrievers were born on May 28,'' Ra Jeong-chan, president of RNL Bio, told reporters. They were named as Marine-R, Marine-N, Marine-L and Marine-S.

Marine, who is six and half years old, is unable to reproduce because her womb was removed from disease. Read More

Beaten-down Dog From Vick Case Has His Day

06/18/08 - It’s a dog’s life. And for Leo it couldn’t be better.

Leo — rescued from heavy chains that confined him as one of the pit bulls in former NFL quarterback Michael Vick’s dogfighting ring — is a lover, not a fighter. He now happily frolics in a clown collar as he makes the rounds at the Camino Infusion Center, where he brings comfort to cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy.

Despite his training as a killer, Leo is a sweetheart as he visits his friends on the ward. Read More

Single-Horned 'Unicorn' Deer Found in Italy

06/17/08 - ROME - A deer with a single horn in the center of its head — much like the fabled, mythical unicorn — has been spotted in a nature preserve in Italy, park officials said Wednesday.

This is fantasy becoming reality," Gilberto Tozzi, director of the Center of Natural Sciences in Prato, told The Associated Press. "The unicorn has always been a mythological animal."

The 1-year-old Roe Deer — nicknamed "Unicorn" — was born in captivity in the research center's park in the Tuscan town of Prato, near Florence, Tozzi said.

He is believed to have been born with a genetic flaw; his twin has two horns. Read More

Amur Leopard Baby At Saint Louis Zoo

06/16/08- A litter of two critically endangered Amur leopards, a male and a female, were born at the Saint Louis Zoo on May 10. The male was stillborn. The female cub was removed for hand-rearing from Big Cat Country to the Zoo’s veterinary hospital because her mother failed to demonstrate proper maternal care. Similar to other cats, it is common for a first-time leopard mother to have problems raising her first litter.

For the past month, little Sofiya (so-FEE-ah) which means “wisdom” has been cared for by the Carnivore unit and veterinary staffs. Since she has made good progress in her development and gained weight, Sofiya has been moved to a nursery at the Emerson Children’s Zoo today, June 12, at 10 a.m. Zookeepers will continue bottle feedings until she is weaned at about three months of age. The first few months of life are the most critical for any newborn. Read More

Rare Male Sea Dragon Finally Pregnant

06/12/ 08 - After setting the mood with lighting and finessing, the Georgia Aquarium's attempts to coax rare sea dragons to mate have finally worked -- just in time for Father's Day.

The pregnant male weedy sea dragon is now only the third of its kind in the United States to successfully become pregnant outside of its natural habitat.

The sea dragon, found in nature only in the waters off southern Australia, became pregnant Tuesday when a female transferred her eggs onto his tail.

Dennis Christen, assistant manager of animal care and husbandry, said that male sea horses, sea dragons and pipe fish all carry the eggs instead of the female.

Christen said that recently the staff took steps to try to assist in mating. Read More

Animal Angels With Special Tasks

06/10/08 - When Sandra Gerencher of Bethlehem adopted her son Terry five years ago, she was told the boy, who has been diagnosed with autism, would never speak in full sentences.

But a bouncy black shepherd-mix puppy named Chance changed that.

Within a year of adopting the dog from a shelter, Terry spoke his first complete sentence -- to the dog.

''I stood outside his room and heard him asking the dog 'Are you hungry? Do you want to play?''' Gerencher says.

Although she says Terry, now 13, still doesn't use complete sentences when talking to people, he continues to talk to the family dogs and even pretends to read to them from books.

''It's helped him to cope with some of the issues he's dealing with,'' Gerencher says. ''We don't know what's going on inside an autistic child's brain, but there's something different in his thought processes when it's the dog.'' Read More

Harrods Opens The Largest Ever Pet Emporium

06/09/08 - It calculated that a handbag-sized Chihuahua will set owners back a whopping £88,691($175,271. USD) during an average lifespan of 13 years, followed closely by the greyhound, with costs totaling £82,797($163,624. USD).

Even a humble Jack Russell could run up an eye-watering £26,326.($52,025.USD) And you can bet it isn't all just going on tins of dog food, pooper-scoop bags and vet bills.

There is a huge demand for pet fashion,' says Tijen Mehmet, pet shop buyer at Harrods. 'Ten years ago we had a turnover of around half a million pounds - now it is more than three times that amount. One customer recently spent £800 on her puppy in one shopping spree.

'Twenty years ago, people wouldn't have dreamed of putting clothes on dogs; now we have dog coats that cost £399.($788.USD) We have sold 15 of them over the past few months.'

So it is hardly surprising that Harrods is set to open a new pet department later this month that will be three times larger than the existing space devoted to animals. That's a massive 11,000 sq ft of retail space - roughly four times the size of a tennis court. Read More

Great Scotty: Burned Cat’s Story Gets A Paws-itive Response From Community

06/03/08 - Scotty is a shadow of a cat right now.

His ears are singed, he is whiskerless and his paws are bound with bright blue bandages.

But by all accounts, Scotty is one lucky cat.

However, from the comfort of Naples Safari Animal Hospital & Pet Resort, Scotty’s outlook is starting to get a little sunnier. Read More

Creepy or Cute? Robot Creature to Study Touch

05/30/08 - Steve Yohanan loved having a cat around while he worked at home, enjoying how she put her head against his hand or purred in his lap. After his allergies acted up and he had to give the cat away, he missed the touch interaction he had with her and started thinking about how he could study these emotional responses to touch.

Now, Yohanan, 40, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Computer Science at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, has come up with a prototype for a robotic creature he'll use to figure out how humans use touch to communicate.

A touch-based device like this could mediate communication between people in different places, he said. Read More