Bones Are Unsafe No Matter What Their Size: Giving Your Dog a Bone May Make Your Pet a Candidate for a Trip to Your Veterinarian's Office

The stereotypical pairing of a happy dog with a big old bone may soon be history if enough people heed a recent FDA warning about the danger of bones.

The idea of a federal agency warning about something that's been going on for at least 15,000 years, if you consider dogs' predecessors going out and shopping for food in the wild themselves) seemed ludicrous, an affront to one of the oldest associations known to mankind.

If the problems the FDA describes are true, then it's a good idea to educate the public. The agency isn't banning bones. It can't. You buy a hunk of beef, and the bone is yours to do with as you please. The FDA is just warning about them. Here's the exact message:

The idea that it's natural for dogs to chew on bones is a popular one. However, it's a dangerous practice and can cause serious injury to your pet.

"Some people think it's safe to give dogs large bones, like those from a ham or a roast," says Carmela Stamper, D.V.M., a veterinarian in the Center for Veterinary Medicine at the Food and Drug Administration. "Bones are unsafe no matter what their size. Giving your dog a bone may make your pet a candidate for a trip to your veterinarian's office later, possible emergency surgery, or even death."

"Make sure you throw out bones from your own meals in a way that your dog can't get to them," adds Stamper, who suggests taking the trash out right away or putting the bones up high and out of your dog's reach until you have a chance to dispose of them. "And pay attention to where your dog's nose is when you walk him around the neighborhood--steer him away from any objects lying in the grass."

Here are 10 reasons Why It's a Bad Idea to Give Your Dog a Bone:

• Broken teeth: This may call for expensive veterinary dentistry.

• Mouth or tongue injuries: These can be very bloody and messy and may require a trip to see your veterinarian.

• Bone gets looped around your dog's lower jaw: This can be frightening or painful for your dog and potentially costly to you, as it usually means a trip to see your veterinarian.

• Bone gets stuck in esophagus: The esophagus is the tube that food travels through to reach the stomach. Your dog may gag, trying to bring the bone back up, and will need to see your veterinarian.

• Bone gets stuck in windpipe: This may happen if your dog accidentally inhales a small enough piece of bone. This is an emergency because your dog will have trouble breathing. Get your pet to your veterinarian immediately!

• Bone gets stuck in stomach: It went down just fine, but the bone may be too big to pass out of the stomach and into the intestines. Depending on the bone's size, your dog may need surgery or upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, a procedure in which your veterinarian uses a long tube with a built-in camera and grabbing tools to try to remove the stuck bone from the stomach.

• Bone gets stuck in intestines: This can cause a blockage. It may be time for surgery.

• Constipation due to bone fragments: Your dog may have a hard time passing the bone fragments because they're very sharp and they scrape the inside of the large intestine or rectum as they move along. This causes severe pain and may require a visit to your veterinarian.

• Severe bleeding from the rectum: This is very messy and can be dangerous. It's time for a trip to see your veterinarian.

• Peritonitis: This nasty, difficult-to-treat bacterial infection of the abdomen is caused when bone fragments poke holes in your dog's stomach or intestines. Your dog needs an emergency visit to your veterinarian because peritonitis can kill your dog.

"Talk with your veterinarian about alternatives to giving bones to your dog," says Stamper. "There are many bone-like products made with materials that are safe for dogs to chew on."

"Always supervise your dog with any chew product, especially one your dog hasn't had before," adds Stamper. "And always, if your dog 'just isn't acting right,' call your veterinarian right away!"

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An Ad Agency Teams Up with an Animal Shelter in England to Create a High Tech Way to Get a Dog Adopted: Dog Following Shoppers Around the Mall on Digital Billboards

As anyone who's ever worked in an animal shelter knows, one of the best ways to get homeless dogs adopted is to put them in front of people. Ad agency OgilvyOne recently took a virtual approach to this idea with a campaign for the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home in England.

Visitors to East London's Westfield Stratford mall were given special flyers containing chips that triggered digital billboards around the mall. As you can see from the video above, when people holding the flyer approached the billboards, Barley, an impossibly cute pooch, would follow them or ham it up through twirls and bows.

"Battersea rehomes animals all over the UK and beyond and this could help encourage people to choose to rescue a dog," Carly Whyborn told the UK's Campaign magazine. "We're using innovative technology in a way that has never been seen before, and we hope more of our abandoned animals find loving homes because of it." Whyborn is the head of operations at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.

Fortunately for Barley the campaign worked and, according to AdWeek, the lucky dog has found a new home. Of course, there are still many adoptees waiting for homes, so if you're in the UK (or traveling there) you can see who still needs rescuing on the shelter's website. 

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Piranhas Make Interesting Pets: Depending on the Species, Adult Piranhas Can be 12 -16 Inches Long

Piranhas can make interesting pets with their full sets of sharp teeth and their fast and furious attack skills. Keeping piranhas is a bigger commitment than keeping other fish as pets -- they require lots of space, and they can live more than 20 years in captivity. Meanwhile, their food and water temperature needs are rather simple to accommodate.

Room to Move
Piranhas can seem cute when they're small and hiding among tank decorations much of the day, but they don't stay small. Depending on the species, adult piranha can be 12 to 16 inches long. They come from river environments and live best in large tanks -- a 100-gallon tank suits a single adult piranha; add 20 gallons for each additional piranha. Red-bellied piranhas tend to school in the wild, so you can likely keep a few in the same tank, although they might attack each other at some point. If you're keeping a black piranha as a pet, house him alone -- he's just as likely to eat another piranha as the dinner you provide him.

Ringing the Dinner Bell
Piranhas aren't strictly carnivores, although meat is definitely their meal of choice. If you have aquatic plants in your tank, you might see your fish take a few bites here and there. They also eat fish pellets and flakes occasionally, and they can benefit from the vitamin boost these foods provide. But for most of their meals, plan on feeding protein such as krill, mealworms, earthworms or feeder fish. Unless you raise your own under controlled conditions, thaw frozen versions of these foods or buy live ones from reputable fish food suppliers. Avoid grabbing insects and worms from your yard -- they might have ingested chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides, which they can transfer to your piranha. Juvenile fish need to be fed up to four times per day, while sub-adults usually need food about twice a day. Feed mature adults about once every two days.

Home Sweet Tank
Piranhas can survive in a variety of tank conditions, but they prefer a water temperature of between 78 and 82 degrees Fahrenheit and a sandy substrate. Juveniles are especially fond of aquatic plants. In the wild, they spend much of their time hiding from predators until they reach their adult sizes. However, adults enjoy swimming among the plants as well. They also like large pieces of driftwood that offer secluded places to rest.

Keeping It on the Up and Up
Before buying a piranha for a pet, check with your local and state regulations. Many states ban piranhas because people sometimes release them into the wild; introducing non-native species can wreak havoc on your local environment. Non-native species can compete with indigenous ones for food, sometimes endangering the other species' survival. Also, state governments often don't want to risk local fisherman catching piranhas unexpectedly and potentially becoming injured. Even if you have no intention of releasing a pet piranha, always follow local regulations.

Safety First
Owning a piranha means taking a few precautions to ensure he doesn't decide your hand looks tasty for dinner. Even small, a piranha has razor-sharp teeth that can easily bite through your skin; as an adult, he can bite through bone to remove entire fingers. To prevent injury to yourself, never dip your hand in the water to feed a piranha. Also, don't place a hand with a wound, even a small scratch, in or near the top of the water -- the blood might attract the piranha, who swims powerfully enough to jump out of the water. Clean the tank with long tools instead of putting your arm inside, and use a net to catch your fish when it's necessary to move him. He can bite through the net, so don't stabilize him with your hand. Instead, hold a second net under the first to catch the fish if he bites a hole in the first net and falls through. FOLLOW US!

Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Authorities Confirm: Fish Caught by Fisherman is a Piranha

A fisherman caught a piranha while fishing on an Arkansas lake last week, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission authorities confirmed.

Roger Headley was fishing on Lake Bentonville Friday when he caught the toothy fish, which he thought was a large perch.

Headley told a television station the fish actually did try to bite him when caught.

“I knew he kind of looked funny, and when I reached down and tried to take the hook out of his mouth, that's when he opened up his mouth and tried to bite me,” he said.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission lists piranhas among species of exotic animals that are unlawful to import or transport.

Game and Fish experts told KHBS/KHOG-TV that piranhas, which usually are dumped by former pet owners, are not a threat because they don't last long in Arkansas' cold waters.

Headley said it was luck that the fish wasn't caught by a young child.

“If a little kid would have caught him or something he could have lost a finger or anything,” he said.

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Surabaya, Indonesia: 24 Critically Endangered Cockatoos Rescued by Police After Being Found Stuffed in Water Bottles for Illegal Trade

More than 24 critically endangered cockatoos were rescued by police after being found stuffed in water bottles for illegal trade. 

Smugglers crammed the Yellow-crested cockatoos into empty bottles so they could get through customs at Port of Tanjung Perak in Surabaya, Indonesia.

But Indonesian Police discovered the birds, which can be sold for as much as £650 each, and cut them free so they could receive medical attention.

The Yellow-crested cockatoo was listed as a critically endangered species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources in 2007.

The population is at a critical low due to deforestation and poaching and recent studies suggest there may be less than 7,000 individuals remaining.

More than 10,000 parrots, including Lories and Cockatoos, are caught from the wild in North Halmahera, Indonesia, each year to supply the domestic and the international illegal wildlife trade.

Around 40 per cent of birds die during the illegal smuggling process. 

So for every 1,000 parrots caught from the wild, 400 birds died in vain, during the poaching, transportation and trade, due to poor conditions and cruel handling.

Most parrots are prohibited from international commercial trade unless they are captive bred or permitted by the exporting country. 

Yellow-crested cockatoos also breed very slowly and lay eggs only once a year. They can produce only two eggs at a time.

Illegal trapping continues in many areas including Rawa Aopa Watumohai National Park, Buton and Kadatua Islands, but has reportedly been reduced significantly on Sumba.

Large-scale logging and conversion of forest to agriculture across its range has exacerbated the decline, and the use of pesticides is a further potential threat. 

The white birds can range in size from 12 inch to about 27inch in length and present a beautiful yellow crest.

They are found in wooded and cultivated areas of East Timor and Indonesia's islands of Sulawesi and the Lesser Sundas. 

More than 24 critically endangered cockatoos were rescued by police after being found stuffed in water bottles for illegal trade.

Smugglers had crammed the Yellow-crested cockatoos into empty bottles so they could get through customs at Port of Tanjung Perak in Surabaya, Indonesia.

The Yellow-crested cockatoo was listed as a critically endangered species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources in 2007.

Indonesian Police discovered the birds, which can be sold for as much as £650 each, and cut them free so they could receive medical attention.

The population is at a critical low due to deforestation and poaching and recent studies suggest there may be less than 7,000 individuals remaining.

Most parrots are prohibited from international commercial trade unless they are captive bred or permitted by the exporting country.

Yellow-crested cockatoos also breed very slowly and lay eggs only once a year. They can produce only two eggs at a time. FOLLOW US!

Cats Who Eat Plants

If cats are meat eaters, why does yours sometimes prefer salad? Actually, eating small amounts of plants or grass is normal for cats, and as many as one in three housecats regularly munches on veggies. There are a few common reasons for this behavior.

First, your cat might just be looking for some fun. Leaves that dangle or flap in the breeze can look a lot like a fluttering bird or cat toy, so they can be pretty exciting to a cat who’s in a playful mood. Some cats might have learned that biting plants is a sure-fire way to get your attention. Kittens and juveniles might just be looking for something (anything!) to chew, just like human babies, who put everything into their mouths and find comfort chewing on teething rings. Eating large amounts of grass or leaves usually results in vomiting or can act as a laxative. No one knows if cats sometimes purposely eat plants to solve gastrointestinal discomfort or to help bring up hairballs, but those are possibilities. Green plants might also provide some missing nutrients, but there’s currently no scientific evidence that plant eating satisfies any nutritional deficiency.

Most of the time, plant eating is just a nuisance to pet parents, but it can be dangerous if a cat decides to eat a toxic plant or a plant that’s been treated with pesticides. Many common house and garden plants are poisonous to cats. Please see the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center’s website for a list of common poisonous plants.

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Association Four Paws, Swapped Dogs Available for Sale in a Pet Shop with Unwanted Dogs that Were Rescued from the Streets

An animal shelter in Brazil found the perfect way to show rescued dogs in a positive light in a bid to get them adopted.

Associacao Quatro Patinhas, which translates into Association Four Paws, swapped dogs available for sale in a pet shop with unwanted dogs that were rescued from the streets.

The experiment was staged to change people’s perceptions of rescue animals and prove that they are as loving as any other dog and in fact, in more need of a home.

Many families tend to bypass animals shelters in Brazil and as a result they are overcrowded and under-funded places.

Setting up hidden cameras around the shop, the film crew capture the moment a number of people came in and asked about the price of a puppy.

The reactions range from shock to confusion, and every person involved questions the shopkeeper and cannot believe it when he tells them that the animal is free.

Christianne Duarte Garoiu, the president and founder of Associacao Quatro Patinhas, said, "The shelters are usually in bad conditions. Animals die of diseases and maltreatment or due to overcrowding. Some people abandon animals in shelters thinking they’ll get adopted and receive proper care. But they usually end up dying from many diseases and depression. People still pay a lot of money buying animals in pet shops."

He added, "But there are many other pets that would bring them so much love for all their lives and people don’t need to spend a cent for it."

Christianne said, "it doesn’t matter whether a dog is pure bred or not, all that matters is its owner's connection with it."

The video concludes with a message that reads: 'Better than buying a life is saving one'.



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Fairfax County Police Department: Meet CJ, Our Newest K9 Recruit

Our newest K9 recruit, CJ, says Happy Monday to everyone! You can't help but smile when you see her! CJ is just 7 weeks old and traveled up from Alabama last week. She will live with her new K9 handler and ride alongside K9 Cody over the next year, as she grows and begins training. CJ is a Bloodhound. Her Bloodhound cousins, K9 Bolt and K9 Silas, already serve on the department. CJ will learn to find missing children and adults with her amazing tracking abilities! Let's give CJ a big welcome to our county!

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It's Me or the Dog

The night my girlfriend discovered she wouldn’t be my only bedfellow, she was baffled. “Where I come from, you only sleep with a dog in your bed if you’re single, or your central heating is broken,” she said upon finding Whisky, my 15-pound terrier-spaniel mix, settled in comfortably for the night, her head resting daintily on my pillow.

But this was a nascent long-distance relationship, and she had just flown more than 5,000 miles from London to Los Angeles to see me, so she let it slide.

Since then, and even though she now adores Whisky (or claims to), she insists that “normal people” don’t share their beds with dogs. After she pointed out — while prying her expensive-looking jacket from beneath a snoring Whisky — that my canine companion seemed perfectly content to sleep almost anywhere, I began to question it myself.

Am I the unreasonable party? Who’s really deciding where Whisky sleeps, me or the dog? My girlfriend is British; I wondered if allowing one’s dog to share one’s duvet is a distinctly American custom, like Thanksgiving or the Super Bowl.

“Don’t get me wrong,” she said one afternoon. “It’s very attractive to me that you’re able to care for another living being. I love that. But it’s a step too far. It’s like having another person in the bed.”

The practice of sharing one’s bed with a dog, I discovered, is hardly modern. In “Cynegeticus,” a treatise on hunting, the ancient Greek historian Arrian of Nicomedia wrote, “There is nothing like a soft warm bed for greyhounds; but it is best for them to sleep with men — as they become thereby affectionately attached — pleased with the contact of the human body.”

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Do People Really Keep Insects at Pets? Would You Ever Keep One as a Pet?

WARNING: If you don't like bugs, you should skip reading this post.

Children are fascinated by insects, but many of us eventually grow out of wanting to catch a firefly and keep it in a jar. For the people who never lose that urge, though, it can lead in directions that might be surprising.

"Roaches actually make really good pets," says Scott Martin of Rockville, Maryland.

Used to skeptics, enthusiasts will explain that not all cockroaches are created equal.

Orin McMonigle is author of more than a dozen books on keeping pet insects, produces a magazine for hobbyists and even has a species of roach named after him. He doesn't like vermin scurrying about his kitchen any more than you do.

"I do not like pest cockroaches, I do not like mosquitoes, I do not like lice, I do not like German cockroaches. I just like the neat ones," says McMonigle, who in fact used to be a licensed pest control operator. "By knowing the difference, I'm able to appreciate the neat ones."

The most common pet roach is the hissing cockroach, 2 to 3 inches (5 to 7.6 centimeters) long. Its name comes from the sound it makes when disturbed, although it may lose that habit when it gets used to being handled. Hissers make a good display not only due to their size, but also because they don't instinctively hide.

If one were to escape, McMonigle says, the only danger would be to the insect itself. Hissing cockroaches can't survive on their own in the typical home, where the temperature and humidity are unsuitable and they can't find food.

"If you let a thousand hissers loose in your house, they're not going to do anything," he says. "There's over 4,000 species of roaches, and only about 25 are classified as pests, and only five of those are any good at it."

A parallel might be to an escape by guinea pigs, he says: Just because they're related to mice doesn't mean they can take up residence in your walls and start breeding.

Hissers aren't the only roaches kept by hobbyists, and McMonigle says there are even species that only exist in captivity. One mutation with white eyes, originally discovered in a deep coal mine, has been bred since the 1940s. Another species that was found only around a cave that was destroyed by mining is extinct in the wild.

If you're still not convinced about roaches, McMonigle notes that their closest relative is an insect that many people love: the praying mantis.

Yen Saw of Katy, Texas, has been keeping mantises for nearly 10 years, since his son got interested in them. "But then he conveniently left the hard work to me and I got hooked," Saw says.

With insects, you can breed many generations in a limited space and over a short time. And unlike more conventional pets, they don't just get larger as they grow, but metamorphose through several different forms.

"I love the process of seeing them growing," says Saw.

Owners of some kinds of insects can also observe a natural behavior that might be too gruesome with other pets: predation. Insect keepers typically raise insects to feed their insects — in fact, Martin started out keeping spiders and raising roaches as food, before getting interested in the roaches for their own sake.

Mantises, despite their charm, are hunters, and have no mercy even on their own relatives. When asked how many mantises he has right now, Saw laughs and says, "The number keeps changing because praying mantises, as you know, they eat each other."

Since hundreds hatch at a time, this behavior helps keep the size of a collection manageable. It's also one of the insect's claims to fame: The female has a habit of eating the male's head after mating, although the frequency of that has been exaggerated, Saw says. He's watched mantises breed many times, and says, "The males are really careful trying not to lose their heads." And in captivity, the risk can be minimized simply by feeding the female first, so she's not hungry.

If you doubt how devoted a person can be to what others consider creepy and crawly, here's one last fact about Saw: When he started to develop allergy symptoms and his doctor diagnosed an allergy to roaches, he realized that also meant he was allergic to his pet mantises. "It was devastating for me," he said.

But that didn't stop him. Now, he says, "when I go into my insect room, I have to wear a mask and gloves. But I love my hobby so I'll do whatever I have to."

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American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) Responds to Washington Post Op-Ed Critical of Veterinarians

On April 21, the Washington Post ran a commentary from Peter Fenton that made allegations that veterinarians are intentionally bilking clients on pet medical care. We wrote the following response and submitted it to the Post the same day the article was run, but they chose not to publish our response. Therefore, we’re posting it here. Please feel free to share. You can also view the commentary here and add your own opinions in the comments section.

Peter Fenton’s article, “Vets are too expensive, and it’s putting pets at risk,” described every pet owner’s greatest fear, a life-threatening injury and the inability to pay for its care. We know that this situation is a reality for many pet owners. However, we object to any suggestion that veterinarians are primarily motivated by anything other than providing the best care possible to their patients. As with Mr. Fenton’s cat Orangey, sometimes veterinarians are forced to perform only the essential procedures needed to save an animal’s life. We’re glad that Orangey appears to have made a full recovery as a consequence of the care he received from his veterinarian.

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Homemade Dog Ice Cream

It’s summer, summer, summertime and with that comes scorching hot temperatures that can take a toll on our fur babies! If you haven’t already guessed or this is your first time reading here…“Hi, I’m Christine and I’m OBSESSED with my furry four legged children!” ;)

And just like any concerned mother I want all of my children to have the very best of what I can provide for them. If you’re not new here, you may remember that this year I decided to start making our own dog treats after my neighbor’s dogs got incredibly sick and almost died from some tainted dog treats. To say it put me on super high alert was an understatement. I quickly became an ingredient reading fool when it came to anything on the market for our pets, and that included reading the dog ice cream label that they loved!

While I didn’t find anything particularly bad with the ready made ice cream, I did notice a lot of unnecessary ingredients in them. Mainly, just to pro-long the freezer shelf life. I figured if I’m going the extra mile to make them treats I might as well continue on with their nightly before bed treat too. Yep…spoiled.

To read more on this story, click here: Homemade Dog Ice Cream

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In Honor of the Princess's Birth, the Australian Government Will Donate Aus$10,000 (US$7,826) to a Victorian State Wildlife Sanctuary to Support Research into the Mountain Pygmy-Possum

Sydney, Australia -  The Australian Government sent a fine woolen blanket embroidered with yellow flowers to Britain's new princess. She will also be honored with a more unusual gift. A donation of Aus$10,000 (US$7,826), to support the Mountain Pygmy-possum (Burramys parvus), a rare possum, thought extinct until 1966.

Fervent Royalist Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the blanket made from Tasmanian merino wool and stitched with the nation's floral emblem, the wattle, would be sent to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge after their new baby arrived on Saturday.

The donation amount of Aus$10,000 (US$7,826) will be sent to a Victorian state wildlife sanctuary to support research of the Mountain Pygmy-possum.

"The Mountain Pygmy-possum is Australia's only hibernating marsupial. There are fewer than 2,000 left in the wild," Abbott said of the endangered animal which can fit into the palm of a human hand and weighs only 45 grams.

The animal-themed gift chimes with Australia's presents to older brother George on his birth in 2013, when the baby prince was given a crocodile which hatched on the day his conception was announced.

The princess, who is fourth in line to the British throne, was born in London on Saturday, triggering global interest including in Australia where her great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth II is head of state.

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Dog Found Living Inside Tree Trunk Looking For 'Very Patient' Home

A tiny dog found living inside of a hollowed-out tree trunk now needs a “very, very patient person” to give her a forever home.

“She thinks the world’s out to get her,” Shirley Zindler, a Sonoma County animal control officer and the author of The Secret Life of Dog Catchers, told The Huffington Post.

Zindler said her department received a call a couple of weeks ago from a resident of a rural area in Sonoma County, California. The caller said that a small stray dog had been there for at least a week and appeared to be living inside a large tree. The tree was located near what Zindler described as “common dumping ground” -- place where people frequently drive to abandon their dogs.

Zindler said it took a few hours for her and other officers to coax the 7-pound, underweight dog -- which she described as looking like a “generic chihuahua” -- out of a knothole in the trunk. Another officer on the scene named the dog “Boo” after Boo Radley, the character in To Kill A Mockingbird who left gifts for children in a tree knothole.

Estimated to be less than a year old, Boo was pregnant, but none of her puppies survived.

Boo probably hasn’t had many positive interactions with humans, Zindler told HuffPost. As a result, she was very wary of people. Zindler said she is making progress, but “it’s very, very slow.”

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