Archive for February, 2010
Wacky Cat Facts Part Two
February 9th, 2010 | Author: xan
Ginseng by Xan Rubey, Doghouse Studios
Wacky Fact #7:
Cats do not have a collarbone, which is why they can fit through any opening the size of their head.
Wacky Fact #8:
A cat will hunt for birds and rodents, regardless of how well he/she is taken care of and how much you feed him/her – it is a natural behavior and it is also programmed into the cat’s genes.
Wacky Fact #9:
Cats have twice as many smell-sensitive cells in their noses as we do, which means they can smell things we are not even aware of. In addition to using their noses, cats can smell with the Jacobson’s organ, which is located in the upper surface of the mouth.
Wacky Fact #10:
In the Siamese cat, a lower temperature causes more dark coloration in the growing hairs. This is why newborn kittens, warm from their mother’s womb, are white all over. As they grow up in normal temperatures, the hottest areas of their body, around the stomach and back, remain pale in color, while their cooler extremities gradually become darker.
Wacky Fact #11:
Cats lose almost as much fluid in the saliva while grooming themselves as they do through urination.
Wacky Fact #12:
Both humans and cats have identical regions in the brain responsible for emotion, and a cat’s brain is more similar to a man’s brain than that of a dog’s.
All this cool info was provided by Nancy Dutton, author of the Book of Animal Poetry
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6 Wacky Cat Facts
February 9th, 2010 | Author: xan
Henri and Snooks by Nancy Dutton, author of Book of Animal Poetry
Wacky Fact #1:
Cats have 32 muscles that control their outer ear (humans have six). These abundant muscles enable them to move their ears like radar dishes and pinpoint the source of a sound, rotate them independently 180 degrees, and turn in the direction of sound 10 times faster than those of the best watchdog.
Wacky Fact #2:
In relation to their body size, cats have the largest eyes of any mammal. Most cats do not have eyelashes.
Wacky Fact #3:
Protruding eyes give cats a wider angle of vision and greater peripheral vision than humans have. A cat’s field of vision is about 185 degrees. However, a cat cannot see directly under its nose. This is why cats can’t sem to find treats and crumbs on the floor.
Wacky Fact #4:
A large majority of white cats with blue eyes are deaf. White cats with only one blue eye are deaf only in the ear closest to the blue eye.
Wacky Fact #5:
Cats have 250 bones in his body, compared to 206 in our bodies. This is why they can bend and twist better than acrobats. Almost 10 percent of a cat’s bones are in her tail, and the domestic cat is the only species able to hold its tail vertically while walking.
Wacky Fact #6:
Cats use more than 500 muscles to leap, jump, and sprint. Their thigh muscles are so powerful that if you had them, your thighs would be as big as your waist and you could jump from the ground to the top of a house!
All this fab info was provided by Nancy Dutton, author of the Book of Animal Poetry
Garlic for Dogs: Friend or Foe?
February 9th, 2010 | Author: xan
Garlic has been much-maligned lately as a toxin to dogs. In fact, this Examiner maligned garlic just a few weeks ago in a list of common household pet poisons.
Then Debbie M left a comment on my page that got me wondering how reliable my information was. Debbie asked, “if garlic is toxic to dogs then why are there garlic products on the market to either control bug bites or aid in digestion?”
Ah. Excellent question. I remember a popular doggy supplement from a few years back that was supposed to prevent fleas and mosquito bites – the main ingredients were yeast and garlic.
So I did a little more sniffing around (get it? sniffing? garlic?) and found a very interesting article by a very reputable doctor, Lisa Newman, world renowned pioneer in the field of natural pet care and author of nine books. According to Doc Lisa, garlic is getting a bum rap because of its relatives. Specifically, garlic’s cousin, the onion. Both onions and garlic contain thiosulphate, a compound known to trigger Heinz factor anemia (where circulating red blood cells burst – very bad). The thing is, onions have a MUCH higher concentration of thiosulphate than garlic. With onions, the thiosulphate level is so high that a single serving can cause this fatal reaction. Garlic’s thiosulphate level is barely traceable and isn’t stored in the body so it doesn’t build up.
Newman tells us the current clamor of garlic-bashing is just mass hysteria and the 51,174 sites on the internet that are freaking out about garlic being toxic are way off base. She is backed up by more than 400,000 sites proclaiming garlic’s benefits – most of which are from reputable vets.
“For centuries, humans have been using garlic for themselves and administering it to their animal companions as well. Garlic is known for its incredible anti-parasitic and anti-septic properties. It has been used by hundreds of thousands of pet owners with no reported negative side-effects, except its effect on the pet’s breath.” Newman explains. And indeed, when we look at the list of poisoning incidents most commonly treated by vets (a list compiled by pet health insurance companies), garlic is nowhere to be seen.
Wendy Wallner, DVM, says, “Onions are only one of the substances which can cause Heinz factor anemia. Others such as Tylenol and benzocaine topical ointments can also cause it.” The latter is often used on allergy-suffering pets because it numbs the itching. But it is absorbed into the bloodstream and then stays there, building up to dangerous levels. Many cases of Heinz factor anemia that were blamed on garlic were more likely caused by these other products.
So, according to science, garlic is okay and can even be beneficial to dogs in proper doses. But onions, Tylenol and benzocaine ointments are a no-no.
For the original article written by Dr. Lisa Newman, see Garlic, The Facts.
Amazing “Tails” of Pet Survival
February 9th, 2010 | Author: xan
Here are five amazing stories of animals who survived and even thrived against all odds.
#1) Mickey the Boston terrier somehow traveled 1,100 miles away from his Kansas City, MO home. He disappeared from his back yard but four years later his humans got a call from an animal shelter in Billings, MT saying they had traced him through his microchip information. Mickey was in good shape other than some minor damage to his teeth and his apparent memory lapse of his own name. Forgetful or not, Mickey’s folks were thrilled to have him home.
#2) Tinker Bell the Chihuahua weighed a measly six pounds, meaning that 70-mph gust of wind that swept her off her feet didn’t have a hard time of it. Little Tink flew without the aid of any pixie dust and ended up about a mile away from her humans. A pet psychic was enlisted and pointed them in exactly the right direction – they found her two days later, dirty and quite hungry, but very happy to see her folks.
#3) A certain African gray parrot must have been a member of the “Bird Scouts” (or is that the “Boid Scouts”?) because he was definitely prepared. When he escaped from his cage, he was found, spent a night at a police station and then finally transferred to a vet near his home in Tokyo. Throughout the ordeal he was completely silent but once he reached the vet’s office he promptly announced his name and address. Turns out his humans had spent two years preparing him for just such an event and he performed flawlessly.
#4) Myra Amado heard crying sounds in her backyard but she couldn’t figure out where the sound was coming from. Several days later, she checked a hidden area near her shed and saw a teeny orange kitten’s head peeking at her of of a PVC pipe. The 6-week-old critter was stuck inside the pipe so tightly that it took firefighters two hours and a dollop of vegetable oil to extricate her. Her rescuers named her Piper and quickly took her to a vet who took care of her broken paw and dehydration.
#5) Flushpuppy: There’s a reason 4-year-olds shouldn’t be left unsupervised with teeny puppies. Here’s just one of them. Daniel Blair of Middlesex, England thought his muddy little one-week-old pup needed a bath. So he gave him one. In the toilet. You can guess where this is going. Yes, he flushed the itty bitty Cocker Spaniel down the loo. Amazingly, when a drainage company sent a camera down the pipes, they found the little pup alive. He was out and safe and sound in about four hours. Daniel showed great remorse and promised never to flush a creature down the toilet ever again. No guarantees about his sister’s toys.
Don’t Fall for Pet Movers Internationale Scam
February 9th, 2010 | Author: xan
A scam involving pets is becoming more and more pervasive, claiming victims across the country in towns as far flung as D.C. and Kerrville, TX. It starts off with a too-good-to-be-true offer of an adorable pedigreed puppy for a ridiculously low price and it comes from outside the U.S. Usually this offer is made by an individual in an online post such as eBay. There will be a great sob story for why they can’t keep the puppy. They claim they are selling it for a very low price because they want the dog to be able to find a new home quickly.
After you’ve wire them the money, they send you all the shipping details – saying the puppy will be shipped using a highly reputable international pet moving company. The name of the moving company varies but it’s generally along the lines of Pet Movers Internationale, based in Cameroon, and they claim to take care of all the following:
* Prearrange all necessary flights, ensuring a direct connection when possible.
* Make sure that all necessary shots are current and that all paperwork is in place.
* Pick up your pet at the airport and deliver them to your house.
* Meet them at the destination airport and deliver them to your home.
* Handle them with care during flight.
The shipping info is accompanied by a note such as this: “Welcome to International Pet Moving service Washington Branch, the relocating pets best friend since 1977. We are working in the collaboration with the Continental and Delta airways. We are professional pet movers responsible for the relocation of pets to their new families. When your contract is with us, you are assigned a PERSONAL PET MOVE COUNSELOR who will work with you to arrange the fastest, most direct flight for your pet. We work with your relocation schedule to ensure as smooth a move as possible.”
But then instead of receiving a cherished new puppy, the only thing to arrive will be more and more requests for money. First they request special shipping fees, then they’ll request $120 for a new crate, as the puppy arrived in a crate inadequate for the flight, then it’s up to $900 for insurance and the list goes on. You are requested to make all of these payments via Wal-Mart money-gram. If the payment doesn’t arrive that day, you are also billed daily for the care and feeding of your alleged puppy, which you imagine to be sitting in a crate on a sweltering tarmac somewhere, waiting for you to come to the rescue.
Some people have been bilked for thousands of dollars with this scam. Efron Reveles of Kerrville, TX, believed he was getting a wonderful Great Dane puppy but more than $1,400 later he has realized sadly that she’s not coming.
Top 3 Reasons Why I No Likey Examiner.com Any More
February 9th, 2010 | Author: xan
1. About a year ago when I first became an Examiner (a “local expert” for the website Examiner.com) it seemed like a great gig. We were encouraged to write in first person, use the word “I” a lot, make the articles personal. I dug this because I highly value my own thoughts and opinions and attitude and I was happy to share these with readers everywhere. Then Examiner.com put a stop to that, saying that they wanted us to be more professional; to be less of a blog and more of a legitimate news service. Like there’s some sortage of legitimate news out there in the world. Obviously there’s no shortage of blogs either, all six of my pets are secretly running their own blogs and my 11-year-old daughter writes during recess but I’m sure there is some happy medium that could be both bloggy and legit. So I was bummed about the kibosh but I acquiesced and stopped using first person.
2. Then they started deleting some of my posts. See, a couple times a month the Boulder Valley Humane Society sends me press releases that they want to have passed on. So I passed them on by posting them verbatim in my Examiner column. I certainly didn’t feel it was plagiarism since the Humane Society asked me to do exactly this. And I didn’t re-write the press release in my own words because, well… why the hell would I? They had already gone to the trouble of getting it just right; better to leave the info exactly as they intended it. I gave the HS total credit for the writing, saying my Examiner post was merely a conduit, a channel, a means of conveyance for the Humane Society’s info. But Examiner.com pulled my posts because they were too similar to the Humane Society’s posts.
3. This was the final kicker. Originally we were told that we could write about anything that people in our local beat would like or relate to. My beat was the Boulder Pets Examiner and I took that to mean that I could do any story as long as it was something that a pet-lover in Boulder would find interesting or informative. Now Examiner has decided that we can only write about local events that actually happen within our beat. Well that should earn me about 35 cents a month in hits. That’s how Examiners get paid, you get about a penny per view. If you’re diligent and post every day and you build up a following you can make several dollars per day. The Examiners who have huge beats, the National Examiners, can probably make decent money. Personally, on my best days when I was the number one Examiner in my category, I only made about $4 or $5 a day. But that was when I was posting stuff like “The 10 Wackiest Pet Stories Ever.” Stories that people all over the internet might be interested in checking out. How many people do you think are going to read stories about “Boulder Dog Goes to Park?”
4. The bonus reason: They discouraged us from posting our Examiner stories on our own personal blogs because they didn’t want us to be competing with ourselves. So I’ve ignored my own Doggy Bloggy in favor of Examiner who repaid me by continually tying my hands and changing the rules to be more and more restrictive. I’m done with them. Writing about dogs should be FUN!
I’m gonna re-post all my fun Examiner stories here – hope you enjoy them!