A six-month-old Golden Retriever puppy is getting relief in
his mouth thanks to a set of braces.
The Harborfront Hospital for Animals in Spring Lake,
Michigan, posted photos Saturday on Facebook of the
dog, Wesley, outfitted with braces.
“February is National Pet Dental Health month, so we
thought this was a good time to let you know about the importance of your best
buddy's dental health,” the veterinary clinic captioned the post, which has
been shared more than 270,000 times.
The puppy belongs to Molly Moore, the daughter of the
clinic’s veterinarian, Dr. James Moore, who is called a “doggie dentist” in the
Facebook post.
“He wasn’t able to fully close his mouth and chew well and
he stopped playing with his toys because of the pain and started losing weight
because he couldn’t eat,” Molly Moore told ABC News of Wesley.
The braces were put on Wesley on Feb. 19 and should come
off this week, according to Moore.
“I think the only way he realizes anything is different is
because we had to take his toys away so he doesn’t pull the braces off,” Moore
said. “He’s still as puppy-ish as ever.”
Moore added that her dad sees a lot of “unique cases” in
his practice.
“He does a lot of oral procedures and different orthodontia
for dogs,” she said.
A spokeswoman for the American Veterinary Medical
Association told ABC News that, as with people, dental problems for dogs can
lead to other, more serious health issues.
"Veterinary dentistry includes the cleaning,
adjustment, filing, extraction, or repair of animals' teeth and all other
aspects of oral health care in animals," the spokeswoman said.
"Veterinary dentistry is a function of veterinary practice because it
requires diagnosis and treatment, and, to be fully effective, demands extensive
knowledge of anatomy, anesthesiology, pharmacology, physiology, pathology,
radiology, neurology, medicine, and surgery that is part of the graduate
veterinarian's training."
Our beloved cats are killing machines that take down some
200 million birds a year in Canada, one study found.
And now a new campaign is asking cat owners to help reduce
the carnage by promising not to let their cats roam free outside — a move they
say will benefit our feline friends as well.
Cats are by far the leading human-linked cause of death for
birds in Canada, a 2013 Environment Canada report showed. And outdoor life is
also a deadly and unnecessary risk for cats, says Ted Cheskey, senior manager
of the conservation group Nature Canada.
"Both cat and bird populations are in different sorts
of trouble," he said.
Today, Nature Canada launched its "Keep Cats Safe and
Save Birds Lives" campaign, which is asking cat owners to make an online
pledge not to let their cats roam free outdoors.
16 birds per cat per year
Each pledge could save an average of 16 birds a year,
Nature Canada estimates. It plans to keep a running tally of "saved"
birds online.
The campaign is expected to have the most impact on species
that spend time on the ground, including some of the ones at risk, such as the
wood thrush and the yellow-breasted chat, and common backyard visitors such as
American tree sparrows and dark-eyed juncos.
Washington, DC - The Kids' Farm at the National Zoo is
temporarily closed due to a few animals having E. coli, the National Zoo
announced Monday.
Zoo veterinarians first detected the presence of E. coli on
Feb. 18 in the goats. On Friday, tests results revealed that four goats and one
cow were positive. The zoo said the Kids' Farm was immediately quarantined.
The other animals in the Kids' Farm tested negative,
according to the zoo.
No staff member or animals are showing signs of the
disease, zoo officials said.
Once zoo veterinarians receive three consecutive weeks of
negative results, the zoo will start planning to reopen the Kids' Farm.
Isis is a Pit Bull. She’s also a hero, having saved Jamie
Kraczkowski, her owner,from her drunk, abusive boyfriend.
Said Kraczkowski about the incident:
“Finally, when my head got hit against the wall [by my
boyfriend], [Isis] just grabbed his pant leg and she was done. She was done
with him abusing me – and abusing her.”
But when the police arrived on the scene to help
Kraczkowski, they told her she had a mere five days to get rid of her dog, her
baby, her hero Pit Bull, because Hazel Park (the Michigan town where she lives)
had banned Pit Bulls in 2013.
Kraczkowski continued:
“Thank God they’re allowing me to do home quarantine now.
But, you know, it’s been pretty traumatizing for me. I don’t know what’s going
to happen with my dog. I definitely don’t feel safe without her.”
That was two months ago. In the time since, there’s been a
pretty massive uproar from people in the Hazel Park community and across the
country in support of Jamie Kraczkowski and Isis. It turns out that people
aren’t too keen on dogs – especially hero dogs – being punished just for
looking a certain way.
At last Wednesday’s city council meeting, many of those
supportive Hazel Park citizens stood up in defense of Isis and Pit Bulls in
general.
Suzanna Rondeau was one such person. She spoke to FOX 2
after the meeting:
“When I heard there was a ban on Pit Bulls [in Hazel Park],
I was pretty upset. I have Pit Bulls. So I basically couldn’t live in Hazel
Park with my dogs.”
Also at the meeting was Magan Bouchard, who said:
“I’ve got a niece and they have a Pit Bull and live up
north and the dog protects the baby.”
The incredible support was enough to convince the City
Council to lift the ban on Pit Bulls altogether, though City Manager Edward
Klobucher did come out to defend the original decision:
“We can’t ban stupid owners, so we looked to try to address
what was a serious public health situation when we had 40-something bites by
Pit Bulls in the past few years.”
(It’s worth noting that studies have shown that visual
identification of Pit Bulls is notoriously unreliable. Studies have also shown
that, in places that have banned Pit Bulls – like Council Bluffs, Iowa – dog
bites didn’t really decrease overall, and significantly increased among other
breeds, like Labs and Boxers.)
While Pit Bulls are indeed once again allowed to live in
Hazel Park, there are limitations – Pit Bulls have to be licensed, they have to
be spayed/neutered, they have to have shots, they have to go through behavioral
assessment to determine whether or not they’re dangerous, they have to have
insurance, and owners have to have a fence.
It’s not a perfect situation for Pit Bull owners, but it’s
certainly better than the alternative – having their dogs put to death for
their appearance.
Though the fight against Breed Specific Legislation is
ongoing, there’s no doubt that laws against Pit Bulls are softening in the
United States. Moreaville, Louisiana tried to ban Pit Bulls back in November of
2014, but a public outcry (thanks to a girl named O’Hara Owens and her Pit Bull
Zeus) got the ban overturned. Furthermore, more and more states are outright
prohibiting BSL, like New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.
It’s the sort of trend that might make stories like this
one a whole lot more common, due in no small part to bonafide hero dogs like
Isis.
These are the horrific pictures of three female orangutans
who were killed in a land fire in Indonesia.
The orangutans, two, twenty-year-olds and a baby orangutan
approximately one year old, were caught in the blaze near a protected forest in
Bontang City, East Kalimantan.
The founder of the Centre for Orangutan Protection, Hardi
Baktiantoro, claims the forest fire was deliberately started to clear the land
for farming.
“It is completely illegal to clear forest land by burning
it, and in this case the land that was burnt still had three orangutans living
there,” he said.
After investigating the death of the orangutans, a team of
officers from the Kutai National Park and the Bontang city police buried the
three orangutans.
'The bodies of the orangutans were decayed so we buried
them soon after the investigation to prevent them from spreading disease,' the
head of the Kutai National Park Office, Erly Sukrismanto, said.
The body of the orangutans were discovered after a resident
posted a picture of them on Facebook.
Professional photojournalist Yuli Seperi said, “I saw a
friend post a status on Facebook about the deaths so I went the location where
the three orangutans were.
The deaths made me extremely upset as orangutans are a huge
icon to Indonesia.”
The forest fires are claimed to have started around 2:30
p.m., Saturday, February 20.
The founder of the Centre for Orangutan Protection said, “It
is not clear why the three orangutans could not escape the fire as they usually
can. Perhaps they were afraid of the humans that surrounded the fragmented
forest.
The three dead are believed to be a family of all females,
two twenty year olds and one baby orangutan around the age of one.”
Officers evacuate the three Orangutan killed by a forest
fire at a protected forest on Belimbing village, Indonesia.
The founder of the Centre for Orangutan Protection, Hardi
Baktiantoro, claims the forest fire was deliberately started to clear the land
for farming.
A team of officers buried the bodies of the three female
orangutans to prevent them from spreading disease.
The body of the orangutans were discovered after a resident
posted a picture of them on Facebook.
Professional photographer Yuli Seperi said, “The deaths
made me extremely upset as orangutans are a huge icon to Indonesia.”
The charred bodies of the orangutan were found in a
protected forest in Bontang.
The founder of the Centre for Orangutan Protection said it
is not clear why the three orangutans could not escape the fire as they usually
can.
The three dead are believed to be a family of all females,
two, twenty-year-olds and one baby orangutan approximately one year old.
A few years ago one, of my cats started acting strange in a
way I couldn’t quite pinpoint. I brought her to see our veterinarian and, after
a bit of prodding, I timidly professed “Well, her voice just sounds different.”
It felt so silly coming out of my mouth. Our veterinarian, however, didn’t think
it was silly at all. “You know her best” he reminded me. It was exactly the
kind of validation I needed. In the end, it was lucky that I was able to trust
my intuition. Something was indeed wrong with her and that small detail — that
small change in her behavior — helped us catch it early.
I’d like to pass that validation on to you. You know her
best. You know her habits. You know her activity level. You know what gets her
excited. Many behavior changes can indicate that something is wrong with your
cat. Trust your gut and get her checked out. Here are 8 red-flag behavior
changes to pay attention to.
Silica gel usually comes in small white packets—typically
the size of sugar packets—and can be found in the packaging for many items such
as shoes, bags, coats, electronics, medications, vitamins, food and cat litter.
APCC experts find that when these packets are packaged with food, pets may be
more likely to consume them as they retain the smell of the food item. Silica
gel packets are used as a desiccant (drying agent) to prevent moisture damage,
and are often labeled with the message “Silica Gel Do Not Eat.” If eaten,
silica gel can cause gastrointestinal upset, including vomiting and
diarrhea—depending on the quantity consumed. Some silica gel packets may be
fairly large, and if ingested, could potentially cause obstruction in the
intestinal tract. Fortunately, this is not a common problem.
If your pet has ingested silica gel, please contact your
veterinarian or APCC for more information.
APCC is your best resource for any animal poison-related
emergency—24 hours a day, 365 days a year. If you think that your pet may have
ingested a potentially poisonous substance, call your veterinarian or the ASPCA
Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435 immediately.
Judy Obregon knows an opossum when she sees one. There is
one who visits her porch regularly.
While driving down her block on February 20 heading to her
mother-in-law's house, she stopped as she saw what she first thought was a dead
opossum in the road.
Until the little one lifted her head. And looked toward
Obregon.
It was as if the opossum knew Obregon was there to help.
"I knew I could not walk away," she said.
As the founder of The Abandoned Ones "Saving Animals in Danger" animal rescue in Fort Worth, Texas, Obregon has been rescuing dogs mainly from
a known dog-fighting area in her city. However, if an animal needs help,
regardless of species, Obregon springs into action, as she did with the
opossum.
The opossum at first struggled to walk away before Judy
Obregon was able to get her to the side of the road.
Obregon got out of her car and walked over to the opossum
and saw a trail of blood leading from a driveway to the animal while a bloody
stick lay nearby. Her gut told her the animal had not been hit by a car and
that the opossum was a "she" carrying babies.
Helping the helpless
The opossum kept struggling to lift her head and tried to
walk, so Obregon helped gently push the animal to the side of the road to
prevent a mishap with a car. Obregon ran to her own car to grab a T-shirt to
cover the opossum for warmth.
Obregon found a T-shirt in her car and was able to wrap the
opossum in it for warmth.
She then got on the phone and started reaching out to find
someone who could help. After calling DFW Wildlife Coalition,she was given a list of numbers for local wildlife rehabilitators and finally
reached Tabatha, who lived within minutes away.
While she waited for Tabatha, Obregon knew it was most
important to find a box and get the opossum safe and warm.
Since she was a block from her mother-in-law's house and
her husband was there, she got him to watch the opossum while she ran inside to
get a box.
Obregon wanted to make sure not to hurt the animal.
The opossum was so tiny. So fragile.
And so scared.
"I put the box down to see if the opossum would crawl
into it," she said. "I put it in front of her and used my hands to
guide her into the box." The opossum struggled but crawled inside as if
she knew she was being rescued, according to Obregon, who then carried the box
about a block back to her mother-in-law's house where she sat in front and
waited.
Wildlife help arrives
Tabatha arrived about 10 minutes later.
"It was so emotional," Obregon said. "I do
rescue work all the time, but to see another rescuer do what I do was so
heartwarming."
Tabatha, the wildlife rehabilitator, evaluated Angel the
first night she brought her home.
Tabatha is a wildlife rehabilitator who is in her fourth
year of helping to rehabilitate a variety of animals, from opossums (the only
marsupial in North America) and squirrels, to minks and raccoons. She and her
husband Ronnie each have a sub-permit (they work under someone who is
permitted) with the state of Texas, whereby they are taught everything
necessary to rehabilitate animals from feeding, triage and how to determine if
an animal needs veterinary care to nutrition, cage setup and releasing an
animal back into the wild. Tabatha is in the process of applying for her own
permit.
Angel's injuries were extensive, and Tabatha believed they
were inflicted by humans.
First Tabatha verified that the opossum was female and that
she did have joeys (or babies) in her pouch. Joeys are born blind, bald and
completely defenseless; they weigh about 3 to 4 grams and develop in their
mother's pouch for 60 days. Tabatha covered the opossum, who Obregon named
Angel, with a blanket and placed her safely in a carrier and took her home.
"I could tell she was not hit by a car from the blood
evidence and what she looked like," Tabatha said. "I could tell she
was struck by something."
A plan for Angel to recover
Upon arrival at her home, Tabatha took Angel out to check
her thoroughly and found no broken bones or heavy bleeding. "I could tell
on evaluation of her that she was struck, and I'm pretty sure she was shot with
a BB gun," Tabatha said. There were about four teeth that were damaged and
a spot on the roof of her mouth where the BB hit. Since there was no exit
wound, Angel most likely swallowed the BB.
By the second night, Angel started to show some
improvement.
Tabatha called the wildlife veterinarian with whom she
consults and talked over the case and determined Angel did not need to go into
the office. On the vet's advice, Tabatha administered some pain medication and
fluids, cleaned Angel's wounds, placed her in a cage and fed her some
vegetables, fruit and chicken. "You can tell her mouth is sore, but she
has been eating and drinking on her own, which is great news."
She also checked on Angel's babies, who were OK. However,
she was not allowed to remove them as that could be dangerous for the babies.
Opossums oftentimes get a bad rap, but a little education can go a
long way.
Angel loves being held and snuggling with Ronnie, Tabatha's
husband, who is also a wildlife rehabilitator.
For starters, it is highly unlikely for them to carry
rabies, according to Tabatha, as their blood temperature is too low to sustain
the virus. Most often they are scared of humans and are not aggressive.
Tabatha has been evaluating Angel at night because opossums
are nocturnal. She wants to ensure Angel is calm and there are no loud noises.
"Right now she is scared and you can tell she is hurting," she said.
"She is very sweet. Opossums have a very shy demeanor."
When scared, opossums will hiss and open their mouths very
wide. "If that doesn't work they can play possum, which is play dead and
they actually have glands on their anus that secrete a very stinky, horrible
smelling fluid to make them smell dead." Typically if you leave them
alone, they will leave an area, unless there is food.
Accepting help from humans
Although Tabatha feels that Angel was hurt by humans,
"She has not tried to bite me once," she said. "She knows I am
here to help, not to hurt her. I think she has a very good chance.
Angel continues to heal, and Tabatha hopes to release her
in a couple of weeks.
"My goal is to make sure she doesn't get an infection,
add a little weight to her, and release her and her babies together as soon as
possible," which most likely will be another week or two as long as Angel
continues to heal. Tabatha knows a man who loves wildlife. He has 60 acres and
hunting is prohibited, so she will release Angel on his property.
Rescuing Angel was "not one of my typical rescues
because I rescue dogs and cats," Obregon said. "This is out of the
ordinary for me, but I wouldn't have avoided her for that reason. She is still
an animal with a beating heart, and it was still beating when I got to
her."
If you find an injured wild animal, the Humane Society of the United States has information to help. You can also contact your local parks and wildlife
organization for information and a list of rehabilitators in your area, or call
your local animal control. If you ever bring wildlife to a rehabber, please
leave a donation as they are self-funded.
