Do You Know What To Do When Your Pet Has Died at Home?

Do you know what to do when your pet has died at home? A recent incident that happened in the Dale City area of Northern Virginia has prompted me to share this story with you.

In February, 2011, I allowed my little Shih Tzu, Domino, who had cancer to die at home. I was with him when he crossed over. I had already made preparations because I knew his time was near. The animal hospital a few miles away had told me that if he passed and they were closed (they close at 6:00 p.m.) that I should take him to a 24 hour animal hospital immediately.

Domino passed about 4:00 p.m. My husband wrapped him in a blanket and we took him to the animal hospital, where they immediately took him to the back to prepare him. I had already planned for cremation. I received his urn a week later, and his urn now sits in my curio cabinet next to his sister, Sugar.

Cremation for a pet can be very expensive, especially if the pet is big. Domino was down to about 8 pounds when he passed. His sister, Sugar crossed over in 2008, she was about 12 pounds so of course, it cost me more to have her cremated.

Everyone can not afford pet cremations…and some don’t choose to do so. Some bury them in their backyards.

In the case in Northern Virginia, the pet owner tried to cremate his dog himself in his yard and set his house on fire.

Firefighters say Charles Harris was trying to cremate his 11-year-old Rottweiler in the backyard of his Dale City home. Authorities said he used gasoline to get the fire going, but it quickly spread to his home.

The Associate Press reports that the man tried to get several animal shelters to help him dispose of his dog’s body, but they all told him the Rottweiler was too large.

Firefighters have not said how extensively the home was damaged. No injuries were reported.

If you have this situation, please do not try and cremate your pet in your yard. Consider contacting your Vet, animal control, animal hospitals and animal shelters.

Please have this conversation with your Vet while your pet is alive to get an idea of what you should do when the time comes, especially if you have big pets. Also, for more information on what to do, click here: What to Do if Your Dog Dies at Home  or What do you do if your cat dies in your house? What do you do with the body? 

Owner Dyed Dogs Hair, It Turned Out Much Worse – He Almost Died!

We all love to dye out hair, but for our beloved four-pawed friends it’s really not such a good idea at all, the US animal group is warning about the dangers of pet owners using human hair dye on their dogs…

The life-threatening injuries it created on this poor little doggie were more than horrendous, see for yourself…

Based in Florida the Pinellas County Animal Services (PCAS) shared on its Facebook the disturbing photos and the story behind what happened to this sweet white Maltese mix doggie.

Please be warned that the images are graphic and to see what this hair dye has done to this poor sweet doggie will make you feel truly awful, but not as much as Violet!

To read more on this story, click here: Owner Dyed Dogs Hair, It Turned Out Much Worse – He Almost Died!

A Devastating New Video Has Emerged of a Baby Elephant Without a Trunk

A devastating new video has emerged of a baby elephant without a trunk. There are fears the little one won’t survive after it was seen wandering around with its herd in South Africa. Experts say it is unlikely the elephant was born this way and a predator could have ripped off the trunk.

It could have been torn off by a crocodile as it drank from a watering hole or the baby could have been attacked by a lion. A visitor to the Kruger National Park came across the animal and posted the footage. He is seen saying: ‘A baby elephant without a trunk? Poor thing. This is unreal, I have never seen anything like this. ‘I don’t think it is going to make it.’

A trunk is crucial to an elephant’s survival as it is used for eating, drinking, communicating and sensing danger through smell. The trunk is a fusion of the upper lip and nose and filled with more than 100,000 muscles. It is used to rip food from trees while an elephant will use the trunk to suck up water and then blow it into its mouth. Elephants have one of the best sense of smells in all animals and can detect water 12 miles away. They can also sniff out danger such as approaching predators and storms.

Elephants also communicate through their trunks as they make noises by changing the size and shape of their nostrils. Losing a trunk, therefore, is potentially life-threatening to this animal, especially at such a young age. It is unclear if the animal can be helped by Safari workers who can intervene if they are worried about an animal in their care. It could be removed and placed in a sanctuary away from harm. In 2016, an elephant calf called Mosha was fitted with a prosthetic limb after she stepped on a landmine on the Thai and Myanmar border.

13 Facts Most People Don't Know About The Coconut Crab, The Biggest Arthropod

Although most people don't think about crabs as bone crushing, kitten-eating, mastadons of the tropics, most people have never met this terrestrial hermit crab. About the size of a small dog, the coconut crab - otherwise known as the robber crab or palm thief - is the biggest arthropod in the world, often weighing up to nine pounds. These nightmare crabs look more like an alien from outer space than a species of Earth, and their look isn't the only crazy thing about them.

There are plenty of creepy coconut crab facts. These guys can use their four-foot long legs to scuttle quickly from place to place; burrow into dark holes in the ground; and even climb soaring coconut trees. Sometimes known to take down a small mammal, the coconut crab is a true marvel of nature and one that continues to frighten and titillate anyone nearby. But while some believe they are harmless beach combers, others have suspected them of much greater crimes. If you love crabs that are scary, look no further than the coconut crab.

Life is good for the coconut crab. Found on tropical islands around the Indian Ocean and parts of the Pacific, these terrestrial critters can live anywhere from 30 to 60 years. Their days consists of napping in shady corners, looking for shiny object, and of course, finding coconuts to eat, which is their favorite food. They are the world's largest arthropods, a phylum of joint-legged creatures that also includes spiders, crustaceans, and other insects. Although the Japanese spider crab is technically larger, it lives underwater where it's weight is supported.

To read more on this story, click here: 13 Facts Most People Don't Know About The Coconut Crab, The Biggest Arthropod

There is a Lizard Sex Satellite Floating in Space, and Russia No Longer Has it Under Control

At this very moment, a Russian satellite full of geckos -- (possibly) having sex -- is floating around in space -- and mission control has lost the ability to control it.

The Foton-M4 research satellite launched on July 19 with five geckos on board. The plan: To observe their mating activities in the zero-gravity conditions of Earth orbit. Several other earthly creatures, including plants and insects, were also placed on board for experiments.

But shortly after the satellite made its first few orbits, it stopped responding to commands from mission control. The equipment on board, however, is still sending scientific data back to earth, a spokesman for Russia's Institute of Biomedical Problems said.

"The biological experiments started as soon as the satellite was launched," Institute press secretary Oleg Voloshin told RIA Novosti on Thursday. "The scientific equipment used for the experiments operates properly. We receive the telemetry data from the spacecraft and analyze it. … The current tasks have so far been fulfilled."

Teams of experts are working to reestablish a connection to the satellite, according to the company that built Foton-M.

"Specialists of the main mission control group are currently working to establish sustainable contact with the satellite and implement the planned program for the flight," the Progress company said on its Web site, according to Interfax.

In the meantime, those lizards are being left more or less alone, to do as nature intended for the rest of the 60 days mission.

8 Species of Birds Have Possibly Gone Extinct Over Past Few Decades

A new study has found that eight species of birds are likely to have completely disappeared in the past couple of decades.

Researchers recommend that three species currently listed as critically endangered on the IUCN Red List be reclassified as extinct, while one be treated as extinct in the wild.

Four more bird species are dangerously close to extinction, if not already there, and should be re-classified as critically endangered (possibly extinct), researchers say.

Eight species of birds may have completely disappeared over the past couple of decades, a new study has found. Among these is the Spix’s macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii), a bird that inspired the character of Blu in the 2011 animated film Rio. Found only in Brazil, the bird has not seen in the wild since 2000.

Like the Spix’s macaw, several other bird species are believed to have become extinct in recent years. To pinpoint the ones that may already be gone, researchers from BirdLife International, a global partnership of conservation organizations focusing on bird conservation, looked at 51 species of birds with a “reasonable possibility of being extinct.” These are species that have either not been seen in the wild for more than 10 years despite exhaustive surveys, or species that have been seen within the last 10 years, but whose tiny population has suffered well-documented decline.

To read more on this story, click here: 8 Species of Birds Have Possibly Gone Extinct Over Past Few Decades

Cat Film Festival Organizer Combs Through Nearly 20,000 Videos to Find the Purr-fect Picks

The Internet is brimming with cat videos, but only the best will make the cut at CatVideoFest Opens a New Window. .

Will Braden is the organizer of the event, and he watches nearly 20,000 cat videos for each year’s installment of the annual kitty-themed film festival.

“We have a submission form on our website, so we get thousands and thousands that way. But as you can imagine, not all of them are solid gold,” he tells the Chicago Tribune Opens a New Window. . “Reddit is another good resource, there are so many subreddits about cats. And beyond that, learning how to type ‘funny cat’ and other search terms in other languages is another good way to find videos.”

To read more on this story, click here: Cat Film Festival Organizer Combs Through Nearly 20,000 Videos to Find the Purr-fect Picks

ALERT: If You Purchased a Horse in Weld County, a Horse Tested Positive for EIA

WELD COUNTY, Colo. (The CO Dept. of Agriculture) - The Colorado Department of Agriculture’s State Veterinarian’s Office is continuing their investigation into a Weld County horse that tested positive for Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA) in late August. With the help of records from CDA’s Brands Division and Rocky Mountain Regional Animal Health Laboratory, the State Veterinarian’s Office has determined that approximately 240 horses have been on the quarantined premises during the same time as the index positive animal. Approximately 100 of these horses were sent to 20 other states across the country and steps are being taken to locate, quarantine, and re-test those horses. At this time, no other horses have tested positive for EIA.

“We are working to locate approximately 140 horses that went to different premises across Colorado. We are asking horse owners to contact us if they purchased horses in Weld County between July 18 to August 20, 2018,” said State Veterinarian, Dr. Keith Roehr. “We will work with owners to see if their horses came from the quarantined property. This is an important step in the disease investigation.”

So far, the investigation has resulted in:

The index premises in Weld County is under a quarantine order; two associated premises are also under hold orders. There is no cure or treatment for EIA. Therefore, horse that tested positive in the index case has been euthanized.

Fifteen premises are under hold orders in nine Colorado counties: Adams, Arapahoe, Crowley, Delta, Douglas, El Paso, Mesa, Montrose, and Weld.

Thirty-seven exposed horses have been located in Colorado.

To read more on this story, click here: ALERT: If You Purchased a Horse in Weld County, a Horse Tested Positive for EIA