Adorable Hungarian Puli Goes as a Mop in Bucket for Halloween

Meet Keki, the cute Hungarian puli’s whose Halloween costume went viral. Her mom is taking her for a stroll, as onlookers are amazed that it’s a dog in a bucket!

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Halloween Dangers to Dogs & Cats

During the week of Halloween, calls to the veterinarians at Pet Poison Helpline increase by 12 percent, making it the call center’s busiest time of year.   “Each year we experience a sharp increase in calls around Halloween, especially during the weekends surrounding the holiday,” said Ahna Brutlag, DVM, MS, assistant director at Pet Poison Helpline.

“Most often, these calls involve pets accidentally ingesting Halloween candy or décor. Chocolate is one of the most problematic candies as dogs and cats cannot metabolize it as well as people. Thus, it places them at risk for poisoning.”

The four most common food-related Halloween hazards for pets are chocolate, candy overindulgence, raisins and candy wrappers.

Is chocolate poisonous to dogs?

Of all candy, chocolate is one of the most toxic to pets. Over the past year, more than 1,100 calls to Pet Poison Helpline involved exposure to chocolate and 98 percent of them involved dogs. Many dogs are inherently attracted to the smell and taste of chocolate, making it a significant threat. In general, the darker and more bitter the chocolate, the more poisonous it is. The chemicals in chocolate that are dangerous to pets, methylxanthines, are similar to caffeine and more heavily concentrated in the darker varieties. In fact, a 50-pound dog can be sickened by ingesting only one ounce of Baker’s chocolate! On the other hand, it may take up to eight ounces, (half a pound) of milk chocolate to cause poisoning in that same sized dog. White chocolate contains very low amounts of methylxanthine and rarely causes poisoning. To avoid issues, keep Halloween candy well out of the reach of pets at all times. If you think your pet may have ingested chocolate, symptoms to watch for include vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy, agitation, increased thirst, an elevated heart rate, and in severe cases, seizures.

To read more on this story, click here: Halloween Dangers to Dogs & Cats

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Five Conservation Groups Are Offering a $15,500 Reward for Information About the Killing of a Federally Protected Gray Wolf

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and five conservation groups are offering a $15,500 reward for information about the killing of a federally protected gray wolf.

The four-year-old male, known as OR-33, was found dead in late April in southwestern Oregon's Fremont-Winema National Forest, according to the agency. A necropsy confirmed that it was OR-33, which had a collar that had stopped working the previous year. The wolf died of gunshot wounds.

"This is a heartbreaking loss for Oregon's wolves," Amaroq Weiss, West Coast wolf advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. "Wolf recovery in Oregon depends on wolves like OR-33 making their way west and thriving, so his death is a major setback."

Gray wolves are listed as endangered in the western part of Oregon. "The federal offense is punishable by up to a $100,000 fine, a year in jail, or both. The maximum state penalty is a fine of $6,250 and a year in jail," according to The Associated Press.

OR-33 was a lone wolf, having left the Imnaha pack in northeastern Oregon in 2015, the Fish and Wildlife Service said.

Last year, "OR-33 roamed almost within Ashland city limits — a city of more than 20,000. From June 10-12, he attacked and killed two goats and one lamb at a small livestock operation northeast of Ashland," the Statesman Journal reported, citing the agency.

The animal was apparently not subtle. "This wolf is acting like David Lee Roth," Greg Roberts, a media personality in Southern Oregon, told the Statesman Journal last year. "I had eight people in Ashland say that they've seen him around their property."

Oregon had at least 112 wolves in 2016, according to state statistics. But the conservation groups contributing to the reward for information say that "since 2015 at least eight wolves have been poached or died under mysterious circumstances in Oregon."

Quinn Read, Northwest representative of Defenders of Wildlife, said poaching in Oregon is "a huge and growing problem." She added: "We need everyone's help to catch this killer."

If you have information about this case, you can call the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at (503) 682-6131, or Oregon State Police Tip Line at (800) 452-7888.

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Humane Rescue Alliance: Is Your Dog Out of Control When Guest Arrive? Enroll Them in Our Specialized, Four-Week Mini-Series on Manners

Washington, DC - Is your dog out of control when guest arrive for the holidays? Register your pup for HRA's specialized, four-week mini-series focused on teaching your dog appropriate manners for when guests come to town. Dogs will learn to go-to-place when people knock at the door, leave it with decorations, food, and presents, and how to relax on their mat during human meals instead of begging for food. They'll also learn how to offer more polite greetings to friends and family. 


To Learn about this mini-series, click here: Four-Week Mini-Series 

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Denver City Councilwoman Kendra Black, to Pass a Bill That Would Make it Illegal to Declaw Your Cat, Unless it Was Deemed Medically Necessary

A bill under consideration by the Denver City Council would make it illegal to declaw your cat, unless it was deemed medically necessary. Councilwoman Kendra Black, the bill’s sponsor, called it a “cruel practice” in an email to fellow council members asking for their support.

“Most people don’t think about it,” Black said in an interview. “If you hear the term declawing, you might think it’s a simple procedure. It’s been sold to pet owners as, ‘Oh, we can spay or neuter your cat, and declaw them at the same time,’ and they don’t understand how awful it is. It’s like chopping off the last knuckle of your finger.”

Professional veterinary societies tend to discourage the practice but have opposed efforts to legislate it based on the idea that more cats will be abandoned for problem scratching if declawing is not an option — though that has not been the experience of California cities that have banned the procedure.

Black decided to sponsor the bill at the request of Dr. Aubrey Lavizzo, a Denver veterinarian who is active in the campaign to ban declawing as the Colorado director, Eastern Slopes, for the Paw Project. They became friends after serving together on the social consumption advisory committee, and he told Black about his concerns about cat declawing.

The bill is very short: It says that it shall be unlawful for any person to declaw a cat, and if you are going to declaw a cat, it must be done by a licensed veterinarian using anesthesia and done for a medically necessary reason, such as pain, infection, injury or a congenital deformity that could cause pain or injury.

Black said that if the bill were to pass, a committee would draft rules around enforcement, and the penalty likely would be a fine.

I asked Black if she has cats. She does not.

“I have a dog,” she said. “Who digs holes in my backyard, and I would never cut off his toes because he digs holes in my backyard.”

The Colorado Veterinary Medical Association sees some reasons for declawing.

An FAQ on the association’s website includes a question on cat declawing. The association discourages the practice and treats it as a last resort solution to problem scratching.

Both the American Animal Hospital Association and the American Veterinary Medical Association state that de-clawing of domestic cats should be considered only after attempts have been made to prevent the cat from using its claws destructively or when its clawing presents a health risk for its owner(s).

The following points should be considered before discussing de-clawing with your veterinarian:

Scratching is a normal feline behavior, is a means for cats to mark their territory both visually and with scent, and is used for claw conditioning (“husk” removal) and stretching activity.

Owners must provide suitable implements for normal scratching behavior.

However, the association allows there are instances where declawing is better than the alternative.

Scientific data do indicate that cats that have destructive clawing behavior are more likely to be euthanatized, or more readily relinquished, released, or abandoned, thereby contributing to the homeless cat population. Where scratching behavior is an issue as to whether or not a particular cat can remain as an acceptable household pet in a particular home, surgical onychectomy may be considered.

There is no scientific evidence that de-clawing leads to behavioral abnormalities when the behavior of de-clawed cats is compared with that of cats in control groups.

However, the American Association of Feline Practitioners does not support declawing. Their position statement opens with, “The American Association of Feline Practitioners strongly opposes declawing (onychectomy) as an elective procedure. It is the obligation of veterinarians to provide cat owners with alternatives to declawing.”

Would a declawing ban actually lead to more cats being given up?

That wasn’t the experience of the city of Los Angeles, its general manager Brenda Barnette said in a letter to Black. Los Angeles has had a ban on declawing for five years now, and the number of cats relinquished actually has actually gone down pretty dramatically in that time.

The AAFP says the scientific literature does not support the idea that declawing prevents relinquishment or abandonment.

“There is no current peer-reviewed data definitively proving that cats with destructive behavior are more likely to be euthanized, abandoned or relinquished. The decision of whether or not to declaw should not be impacted by these considerations,” the association says.

Lavizzo didn’t learn how to declaw cats when he went to vet school in the 1960s, and he identifies the 1980s as the time period when the procedure became more common. The few studies out there that attempt to count the number of declawed cats find that between a fifth and a quarter of American cats are declawed.

Lavizzo performed the procedure for years after he went into practice with another vet who already did it, but as he learned more about animal pain, he decided to stop.

Lavizzo strongly disputes the assertion that declawing doesn’t affect cat behavior. (I reached out to the state veterinary association, but no one was available Friday. I’ll update this post when I hear back from them.) Cats who are declawed experience significant pain and related health problems after the procedure, Lavizzo said, but it’s not always recognized because cats don’t express pain in ways that we can see.

Why is it so bad? Unlike the human fingernail, which just sits on top of your finger, a cat’s claw grows from its last knuckle, the third phalanx. Declawing procedures cut through the bone, but Lavizzo said the most common techniques are not very precise and often leave bone fragments along with injured bone tissue inside the cat’s paw. The procedure also severs tendons and prevents cats from walking on their toes as they should, leading to problems with gait and balance and causing arthritis and back pain.

Cats that are declawed can be more prone to biting, he said, and to not using the litter box because scratching in the litter hurts them. These behaviors can also lead to cats being abandoned or relinquished.

Lavizzo believes declawing continues because it’s a profitable procedure for vets, and he doesn’t think the justifications actually support the practice.

“How can you justify cruelty that way?” he asked. “That’s where we need to stop the conversation.”

Next steps:

The Safety, Housing, Education and Homelessness Committee meets at 10:30 a.m. Oct. 25 to discuss the bill. The committee meets in Room 391 of the City and County Building, 1437 Bannock St.

There will be 15 minutes of public comment, at two minutes per speaker.

If the bill advances out of committee, it will be voted on by the full council.

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Can I Have A Pet Fox?

Do a YouTube search for pretty much any smallish animal you can think of and there'll be several videos of a "tame" or "pet" version. Any feline, any canid, any mustelid (weasel), any procyonid (raccoon), any non-bonkers primate (baboons, which are completely terrifying, are exempt). Look at my pet kinkajou, my pet genet, my pet fennec fox, my pet ocelot. And then on the videos of cute furry animals in the wild, you'll see the comments: "omg i want it." When the internet sees a video of a red panda, the internet wants a red panda. Even though a red panda is endangered and a wild animal.

In 1959, a Soviet geneticist named Dmitry K. Belyaev began somewhat secretively experimenting with breeding domesticated foxes. More than five decades, thousands of foxes, and one collapse of the Soviet Union later, the program continues at The Institute of Cytology and Genetics at Novosibirsk, Siberia. Belyaev wanted to unlock the secrets of domestication, the links between behavior and breeding and physical traits, but plenty of non-scientists are aware of the project for a different reason: foxes are adorable, and we want to hug them, and we want them to like it.

But domesticated foxes, which can only be found at that Siberian facility, are not horrible pets. They're a little unconventional, and they require a little bit of extra attention, but if you want a pet fox, you can have a pet fox. All you need is $8,000 and the approval of Kay Fedewa, the exclusive importer of domesticated foxes in the US.

To read more on this story, click here:  Can I Have A Pet Fox?

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Adorable Hippo Fiona Stole the Limelight During a Couple’s Engagement Photo at Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio

You spend weeks planning the perfect proposal, only to be upstaged by a baby hippopotamus when you finally pop the question.

Adorable hippo Fiona stole the limelight during a couple’s engagement photo at Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio.

Nick Kelble and his girlfriend Hayley Roll regularly visit Fiona and were delighted their favorite animal witnessed the proposal.

The ecstatic new bride-to-be wrote in a message to her boyfriend on Instagram: “We're so happy Fiona could be there on our special day. Here's to many more years of going to zoos with you.”

She added in an interview with the Daily Buzz: “We went to the zoo for our one-year anniversary and Fiona was in the window.

“Nick, my boyfriend, and I were waiting in line to get our photo taken with Fiona and I gave my cell phone to someone to take the photo and when I turned back around, Nick was on one knee proposing.”

Fiona became the first Nile hippo born at the zoo in 75 years back in January and had a fight to survive after her mother gave birth six weeks early.

“Full term hippos usually weigh between 50-110lbs,” the zoo says. “Fiona only weighed 29lbs when she was born 6 weeks premature. She is the smallest hippo to ever survive.”

The zoo say Fiona is a “little hippo with a big personality”.

“As Fiona continues to grow, the many facets of her complex personality are really starting to show!” they said earlier this year.

“It’s fascinating to watch how the different elements of her personality seem to reflect the natural history of the hippopotamus.”

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Did You Know That Declawing a Cat is the Equivalent of Cutting a Person’s Finger Off at the First Knuckle?

Many people falsely assume that declawing is just like trimming your nails or getting a manicure. In reality, it is a painful and permanently crippling procedure. The following are eight some reasons why you should never declaw your feline friend:

1) Declawing a cat is the equivalent of cutting a person’s finger off at the first knuckle. 

2) Cats scratch to exercise and enjoy themselves, maintain the condition of their nails, and stretch their muscles.

3) Claws are a cat’s first line of defense:
While we hope that your cat remains safely indoors at all times, if he or she were ever to get outside without claws, your cat would be far more vulnerable to predators and abusers.

4) Declawed cats often become more aggressive:
Many people think that declawed cats are safer around babies, but in fact, the lack of claws makes many cats feel so insecure that they tend to bite more often as a means of self-protection.

5) Pain continues, even after surgery:
Cats are in pain when they awake from the surgery, and the pain continues afterward. Nails can grow back inside the paw, causing extreme pain that you can’t see.

6) Declawed cats are most likely to go outside the litterbox:
Without claws, even house-trained cats might start “doing their business” outside the litterbox in an attempt to mark their territory.

7) Deckawed cats have to relearn how to walk:
Our toes are crucial to our balance, and it’s no different for cats! Because of impaired balance after the procedure, declawed cats have to relearn how to walk, much as a person would after losing his or her toes.

8) Many countries have already banned declawing
Nearly two dozen countries—including Australia, England, and Japan—ban or severely restrict declawing surgeries. And many veterinarians in the United States refuse to perform the procedure.

What You Can Do Instead

Trim your cat’s nails regularly. When the cat is relaxed and unafraid, gently press on his or her toes until the claws extend. Use a pair of nail clippers, and cut only the tip of the nail, taking care not to damage the vein, or “quick.” The nail hook is what tears upholstery, so removing it virtually eliminates the potential for damage.

Buy multiple scratching posts. Ideally, you should have two or more scratching posts in your home. Make sure that they’re sturdy and tall enough to allow your cat to stretch (3 feet or taller). Soft, fluffy carpeted posts won’t fulfill your cat’s clawing needs, so look for rougher posts.

Teach your cat where to scratch and where not to scratch. Encourage your cat to use the scratching posts by sprinkling catnip on the posts once a week. Discourage your cat from scratching furniture by using a loud, firm voice whenever he or she starts to scratch—cats don’t like loud noises! Never use physical force. Instead, you might try using a squirt gun full of lukewarm water directed at your cat’s back.

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