The Pet Tree House - Where Pets Are Family Too : February 2019 The Pet Tree House - Where Pets Are Family Too : February 2019

Thursday, February 28, 2019

Children's Author, Julia Heckathorn’s Pet Kangaroo Wears Clothes and Teaches Children About Nature


Julia Heckathorn, 28, adopted two-year-old Boomeroo from a farm in Texas when she was just 3 weeks old. The pair have been inseparable ever since.

Boomeroo, wears human clothing, lets out an excited squeak every time Julia walks into a room. She will stretch out her arms for cuddles, and follows her around the house.

Julia is a children's author and takes Boomeroo with her whenever she visits a school in the hope of teaching them more about nature.

She says Boomeroo loves to wear human clothes and even has her own wardrobe full of tops and dresses that have been specifically purchased from baby stores for her.

When she was a joey, she slept in the house with her Julia and her husband, Jason.

She eventually grew too big to spend time indoors, so the couple built a temperature controlled barn in their garden where she can sleep alongside the couple's other animals, an anteater, named Noche, four sugar glider possums, and a cat called named Larry.

Although she sleeps in the barn each night, she spends her days hopping around the house and garden with Larry, staring out the window, and sleeping at Julia's feet while she writes.

"When she was younger I used to carry her around in a bag with me to the supermarket so she could get used to seeing people," she said.

She thinks I'm her mother, and she follows me everywhere. When I come near her, she makes this little sound, like an excited chortle, just as kangaroos would do in the wild to locate their mom," she said."

Describing the kangaroo's love of human attire, she said: "When we first got her, she was wearing a little shirt and she's worn clothes ever since. The clothes give her comfort as a thunder shirt would give comfort to a dog."

"She loves her tops, and when I have to take her top off to clean it, she puts her arms out and waits for me to dress her again," said Julia.

Kangaroos are social animals, living in groups called mobs, so when she was a joey, Julia and her husband adopted Larry the cat to give her 24-hour companionship.

Talking about the animals' unorthodox friendship, she said: "Boomeroo and Larry get on really well, and the two are now the best of friends, doing everything together. They eat grass together, lay together, and watch the birds together. It's adorable."

Julia says that when she visits a school with one of her unusual animals, the childrens eyes 'light up with excitement" and they become really interested in learning about conservation.

She has put plans on hold for another animal, since the couple are expecting their first child.

"We are so excited to be expecting our first child, and I'm sure that she and the animals will be the best of friends. She will be a very lucky girl with wonderful experiences." said Julia.

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Man Brings Senior Homeless Dog To The Pet Store And Buys Him Everything He Touches


King is a 12-year-old dog who’s had a rougher life than most dogs — he has spent most of it living on the streets.

After being struck by a car, King lost one of his front legs. He was given the surgery he needed, and then a rescue group called Marley’s Mutts swooped in to help find the senior sweetie a forever home.

They knew they were going into it with the cards stacked against them. King was not only a senior dog, but one that was missing a leg.

Months passed with no one willing and able to take in the pooch…

Until Rocky Kanaka, TV host of the show Dog’s Day Out, heard King’s story and decided King deserved a really special day.

To read more on this story, click here: Man Brings Senior Homeless Dog To The Pet Store And Buys Him Everything He Touches


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Scientists Discover 512 Y.O. Shark, Which Makes It The Oldest Living Vertebrate On The Planet


Can there really be a living creature that’s over five centuries old? It may seem impossible, but scientists have discovered one such beast living in the Northern Atlantic Ocean: a Greenland Shark.

It’s long been known that this particular shark is older than most, but scientists had no idea just how old he was until recently. Now that they’ve pinpointed his age to be 512 years old, he’s claimed the title of world’s oldest living vertebrate.

To read more on this story, click here: Scientists Discover 512 Y.O. Shark, Which Makes It The Oldest Living Vertebrate On The Planet


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Sully The Service Dog Has New Role Helping Wounded Vets


The 2-year-old yellow Labrador Retriever on Wednesday joined Walter Reed National Military Medical Center's dog program to help wounded veterans.

BETHESDA, Md. — Sully, the service dog who symbolized devotion lying by former President George H.W. Bush's flag-draped casket, has a new mission. 

The 2-year-old yellow Labrador Retriever on Wednesday joined Walter Reed National Military Medical Center's dog program to help wounded veterans. Sully offered his paw as he was administered an oath streamed on Facebook to "support, comfort and cheer warriors and their families."    

To read more on this story, click here: Sully The Service Dog Has New Role Helping Wounded Vets


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Saturday, February 2, 2019

Watch Out for These Poisonous Plants and Flowers for Cats


Cats love to chew on many things, especially plants and flowers.  Our little explorers will jump to great heights if something looks enticing to them.  Therefore, if you like to have plants or flowers at home either inside or outside, it’s important to know which plants or flowers are poisonous to cats.

If a plant or flower is poisonous, than parts of the plant are poisonous even if some parts of the plant have higher concentrations of the toxic source than others. Many toxic plant and flowers are irritants: they cause inflammation of the skin, mouth, stomach, and some might affect a particular organ like the kidney or heart.

To read more on this story, click here: Watch Out for These Poisonous Plants and Flowers for Cats

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Friday, February 1, 2019

Is Your Pet Suffering from Depression? Do You Know?


People aren't the only ones that get depressed. Pets can suffer from depression too. Depression in pets can be caused by a variety of factors such as grief over the death of a human member of the household or another pet. It can also be the result of a move or other break from regular routine. If you work long hours and your pet is left alone for long periods of time, he can become depressed. There are usually several signs that may indicate your pet is suffering from depression.

 Many times a pet will get depressed if someone new comes around and they feel replaced, whether it's another pet or a person. So be sure to include your pet in activities with the new person or pet in your life. Don't leave them out. You can also help your pet get use to the new person or pet by allowing them time to get to know each other without you around. Be sure to continue your regular activities with your pet that you engaged in before the new person or pet arrived. Take walks and play at the same time and for the same length of time. If there will be a new baby in the house, get your pet use to the sounds and smells of a new baby as best you can.

Some signs of depression in pets may be:
  • Eating and drinking less often - A depressed pet will begin eating less and sometimes stop eating entirely.
  • Chewing and destroying things - When pets are depressed, they take up destructive behavior as a cry for help.
  • Going to the bathroom inside the house or outside of the litter box. This doesn’t just indicate bad behavior in mad or angry pets - bathroom “accidents” may not be accidents at all - your pet may be too sad to get up.
  • Loss of interest in Activities - Lethargy and lack of interest are telltale signs of depression in humans and animals alike.
  • Dog is wagging its tail less - Happy dogs wag their tails.
  • Hiding - When your pet starts making a home out of the dark corners and spaces in your house (closets, under your bed), and takes up residence in an area they don’t usually frequent, this could be a sign that they’re depressed.
  • Not wanting to be left alone - Like their human counterparts, when feeling particularly sad, some pets do not want to be left alone. Separation anxiety is signaled by excessive crying and whining when you attempt to leave the house. This is often accompanied by #2, chewing or destroying things.
  • Too little or too much grooming - Cats have a tendency to under-groom when they are depressed, but once in a while, you’ll get a pet that does quite the opposite. Watch out for skin irritation and shedding.
  • Increased vocalization - If your pet is crying, whining, or barking more than usual it’s possible there is something wrong and they are trying to communicate with you the only way they know how.





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Put To Sleep While Giving Birth, Rescue Center Says It Was The Right Call


One of the deepest sympathies we have as humans is for a mother who is carrying a baby or babies inside her, and that naturally extends to a doggie mother too, but this story tells of a time that such things made no difference at all to the awful decision!

The mother, in this case, was a pregnant pit bull, in the Texas area and it was reported that she was euthanized while she was still in labor, we are really shocked, even more than any other time, aren’t you?

Well, it seems people are certainly feeling emotive towards this case because it’s going viral all over the place, and that doesn’t surprise us at all!

Amarillo Animal Management and Welfare volunteer, Dacia Anderson, posted a photo of the doggie and a story about what was ha happened that day.

To read more on this story, click here: Put To Sleep While Giving Birth, Rescue Center Says It Was The Right Call!

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Putting Glitter on Your Dog’s Testicles is a Trend Now, Apparently


Beloved American prize wizard Bob Barker used to give us a daily reminder to spay and neuter our pets but, if this latest trend hits the mainstream, we should probably just start sterilizing all humans. A glittered dog scrotum. That’s where we’re at as a society. We’re so far up Maslow’s pyramid that we’re not even dipping our own nutsacks in glitter. We’ve moved on to our dogs. How far removed from the threat of starving to death to do you have to be to pay to have someone do this? This is the type of thing that’s so unnecessarily extravagant that when the working class sees it they start getting an urge to cut off the heads of the rich.

To read more on this story, click here: Putting Glitter on Your Dog’s Testicles is a Trend Now, Apparently

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How Animals Help Brain Chemistry


Our relationship to animals has a profound effect on the biochemistry of our brains; here’s how:

An oxytocin boost
There are documented physiological changes in people who spend as little as 15 minutes with a dog or cat or participate in equine therapy—Their oxytocin levels increase. Dubbed the “love” or “hug” hormone, oxytocin creates a profound sense of peace and comfort. It also slows the heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure in addition to reducing stress hormones.

Normalizing brain chemistry
A study by University of Missouri scientists documented that petting a dog can cause a spike in one’s serotonin level, the neurotransmitter that most antidepressants attempt to increase. Pets can profoundly change the biochemistry of our brains, so it’s no wonder that pet-assisted therapies help people with autism and those suffering from PTSD and drug addiction.


To read more on this story, click here: How Animals Help Brain Chemistry


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Tiny Little Pup Left In A Shoebox By A Supermarket Dumpster


If more people would just be a little bit braver and do the right thing and give their unwanted animals directly to the rescuers, it would be so much better, this poor little pup was left, we wonder if the person was ashamed?

Taking a break from his work at the time, Eddie Olivarez worked at Albertsons, a grocery store in Arcadia, California, he found the little pup.

He found the tiny pup in a shoebox left on the ground by the dumpsters, he could have easily thrown the box into the dumpster, not realizing…

But his senses took over and he realized that the box had to be opened, and sure enough there was something incredible inside a one pound pup desperately in need of help!

To read more on this story, click here: Tiny Little Pup Left In A Shoebox By A Supermarket Dumpster


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Incredibly Rare Puppy Is So Shiny That People Mistake Her for a Metal Statue


When Philippines resident Sandra Pineda’s father first saw a picture of the xoloitzcuintle, an incredibly rare Mexican-originated breed of dog, he was immediately in love.

The family searched far and wide for a breeder that could sell them a xoloitzcuintle, which are incredibly rare on the East Pacific island. They ended up with Piper, who arrived with her new family at just 8 weeks old—but little did they realize that a photo of their precious new pup would catapult the family to internet fame.

The reason? Thanks to a unique lack of fur for the North American breed, people thought the photo was of a statue!

The xoloitzcuintle is also known as the Mexican hairless dog, and is common in its native country but incredibly rare around the world. Characterized with incredibly sparse or completely absent hair and a condition known as oligodontia, which causes the dog to lose at least six teeth over the course of its life, the pups are certainly a fascinating specimen.

To read more on this story, click here: Incredibly Rare Puppy Is So Shiny That People Mistake Her for a Metal Statue

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‘Boo,’ Crowned The ‘World’s Cutest Dog,’ Dies Of A Broken Heart At Age 12


LOS ANGELES (CBS/CNN) — Get your tissues ready. If the January blues hadn’t already got to you, the world’s cutest dog, Boo, has died of a broken heart.

The Pomeranian Boo and his companion Buddy, who died last year, became internet sensations when their American owners started sharing pictures of their adorable antics.

His death was confirmed in a post made by his owners to his 16 million Facebook followers. He was 12 years old, in human years.

“Shortly after Buddy died, Boo showed signs of heart issues. We think his heart literally broke when Buddy left us,” his owners wrote. “He hung on and gave us over a year. But it looks like it was his time, and I’m sure it was a most joyous moment for them when they saw each other in heaven.”

“Our family is heartbroken, but we find comfort knowing that he is no longer in any pain or discomfort,” they added, noting that Boo “brought joy to people all over the world.

To read more on this story, click here: ‘Boo,’ Crowned The ‘World’s Cutest Dog,’ Dies Of A Broken Heart At Age 12

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Man Discovers A Family Of Mice Living In His Garden, Builds Them A Miniature Village


Recently, wildlife photography aficionado Simon Dell stumbled upon the family of a cute mouse running around his garden. Instead of reaching for the traps, however, he took out his tools. Dell built the mice a miniature village, and they repaid him by posing for adorable animal photography shots.

“I was out one day just taking photos of the birds in the garden and having just cut the grass I noticed something moving on the ground,” Simon told Bored Panda. “I pointed my camera at the ground and was shocked but very happy to see a very cute little house mouse standing up just like a meerkat in the fresh cut grass.”

To read more on this story, click here: Man Discovers A Family Of Mice Living In His Garden, Builds Them A Miniature Village



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Family Adopts A Tuxedo Cat With The Most Perfect Mustache


Kittens already have cute little whiskers but can you imagine coming across a kitty that has a perfectly, gentleman-like mustache printed on his furr? This is what happened to Dali the cat’s humans’ when they found and adopted him, he stood out with his wonderful stache!

Not only does Dali look like a gentleman, he acts the part, being a super chill cat, always watching over his human and just being one handsome kitty.

To read more on this story, click here: Family Adopts A Tuxedo Cat With The Most Perfect Mustache


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