A man from southern Israel divorced his wife because she had brought 550 cats into their home. The husband, apparently not a cat lover, told the Rabbinical Court in Beersheba that he was unable to sleep in his bedroom because the surface of the marital bed was constantly covered with cats who refused to lie on the floor. The man, in his divorce request, complained that the cats also blocked his access to the bathroom and did not allow him to prepare meals in the kitchen, the Hebrew daily Maariv reported Wednesday. When he sat to eat, cats jumped onto the table and stole his food. The couple attempted reconciliation at the behest of the rabbinical court. The wife, however, was unable to part from her cats… and preferred to part from her husband.
Just as we humans get cataracts, so can our furry family members. Please take time to look at the videos and visit the websites below. While attending a Love Ball (a Love Ball is an annual fundraiser) for the Montgomery County Humane Society last month, I met a pet owner with a cute little Shih Tzu, I don’t remember her name because I met a lot of dogs that night! I had fun with all the dogs, but this little one caught my attention because she look so much like my Sugar who crossed over the rainbow bridge in 2008. Her mom told me that she was 15 years old and was recently diagnosed with cataracts. She told me that she was being treated, but had not yet decided on having surgery. I am not an expert on cataracts in pets, but decided to research the information hoping that someone reading this blog with notice the signs of cataracts in their pet and get them to a vet before the condition worsens. What Are Cataracts? A cataract is an opacity in the lens of a dog’s eye, causing him to have blurry vision. If the cataract is small, it won’t likely disturb the dog’s vision too much, but cataracts must be monitored because the thicker and denser they become, the more likely it is they will lead to blindness.
If you suspect an eye problem with your pet, please take them to see a veterinarian immediately!
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In 1722, A pet Squirrel named Mungo passed away. It was a tragedy: Mungo escaped its confines and met its fate at the teeth of a dog. Benjamin Franklin, friend of the owner, immortalized the squirrel with a tribute. “Few squirrels were better accomplished, for he had a good education, had traveled far, and seen much of the world.” Franklin wrote, adding, “Thou art fallen by the fangs of wanton, cruel Ranger!” Mourning a squirrel’s death wasn’t as uncommon as you might think when Franklin wrote Mungo’s eulogy; in the 18th- and 19th centuries, squirrels were fixtures in American homes, especially for children. While colonial Americans kept many types of wild animals as pets, squirrels “were the most popular,” according to Katherine Grier’s Pets in America, being relatively easy to keep. By the 1700s, a golden era of squirrel ownership was in full swing. Squirrels were sold in markets and found in the homes of wealthy urban families, and portraits of well-to-do children holding a reserved, polite upper-class squirrel attached to a gold chain leash were proudly displayed (some of which are currently at the Metropolitan Museum of Art). Most pet squirrels were American Grey Squirrels, though Red Squirrels and Flying Squirrels also were around, enchanting the country with their devil-may-care attitudes and fluffy bodies. By the 19th century, a canon of squirrel-care literature emerged for the enthusiast. In the 1851 book Domestic pets: their habits and management, Jane Loudon writes more about squirrels as pets than rabbits, and devotes an entire chapter to the “beautiful little creature, very agile and graceful in its movements.” Squirrels “may be taught to jump from one hand to the other to search for a hidden nut, and it soon knows its name, and the persons who feed it.” Loudin also waxes on their habits, like jumping around a room and peeping out from wooden eaves, writing that “an instance is recorded of no less than seventeen lumps of sugar being found in the cornice of a drawing-room in which a squirrel had been kept, besides innumerable nuts, pieces of biscuit.” Loudon’s advice: when your squirrel is not running around the room, provide it with a tin-lined cage that has a running wheel. Leisure Hour Monthly, meanwhile, in 1859, advised to feed it “a fig or a date now and then,” and that you should start your squirrel-raising adventure with those procured “directly from the nest, when possible.” The unnamed author’s own pet squirrels, Dick and Peter, had the freedom of his bedroom and plenty of nuts to store away. “Let your pet squirrels crack their own nuts, my young squirrel fanciers,” the author wrote.
While many people captured their pet squirrels from the wild in the 1800s, squirrels were also sold in pet shops, a then-burgeoning industry that today constitutes a $70 billion business. One home manual from 1883, for example, explained that any squirrel could be bought from your local bird breeder. But not unlike some shops today, these pet stores could have dark side; Grier writes that shop owners “faced the possibility that they sold animals to customers who would neglect or abuse them, or that their trade in a particular species could endanger its future in the wild.”
Keeping pet squirrels has a downside for humans too, which eventually became clear: despite their owners’ best attempts at taming them, they’re still wild animals. As time wore on, squirrels were increasingly viewed as pests; by the 1910s squirrels became so despised in California that the state issued a widespread public attack on the once-adored creatures. From the 1920s through the 1970s many states slowly adopted wildlife conservation and exotic pet laws, which prohibited keeping squirrels at home. Today, experts and enthusiasts alike warn that squirrels don’t always make ideal pets, mainly because of their finicky diet, space requirements, and scratchy claws. None of this, of course, will deter the most determined squirrel owner. Fans of Bob Ross might remember his pet squirrel named Peapod, and some squirrels owners are rekindling the obsession by making their pets Instagram-famous. Still, wild squirrels surely agree—it’s probably best we’re now mostly leaving them to the forest.
Pete the squirrel, who was a pet of President Harding. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS/LC-DIG-HEC-42488
John Singleton Copley’s A Boy with a Flying Squirrel. MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON/PUBLIC DOMAIN
A girl with a pet squirrel - and parrot, cat and pigeon. INTERNET ARCHIVE/PUBLIC DOMAIN
Portrait of a Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling, Hans Holbein PUBLIC DOMAIN
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Police captured a big African cat, resembling a Cheetah, running through the streets in Reading, Pennsylvania. Reports about the spotted feline started coming in on Nov. 3 in Reading, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) northwest of Philadelphia. When officers tracked it down, they initially thought they'd found a cheetah. The Animal Rescue League of Berks County says they got a call from the city's police department about the big cat on Saturday. When staff responded, they found a cat called an African serval. The cats are illegal to own in Pennsylvania without a license, and the state's game commission says no one in Berks County has such a license. The 1- to 2-year-old female was declawed and very friendly, leading animal workers to presume it had been a pet, raised in a home since it was a kitten. The animal could be worth $20,000 to $30,000 on the black market, said Tom Hubric, the animal rescue league's interim executive director. He speculated the owner may have wanted to breed the serval with a domesticated cat to create what's called a Savannah cat. Those are legal to own, he says. The cat was transported Thursday to a big cat rescue facility that can give it the special diet and extensive exercise it needs. "She's just a magnificent animal and she's captivated everyone who has seen her," Hubric said.
As Pet Cancer Awareness Month draws to a close, the takeaway is in preventative care. Although many types of cancer in dogs are genetically influenced and unpreventable, regular vet check ups and at-home examinations are the key to early diagnosis. There are also several lifestyle changes you can make for your pet to ensure they’re living life to the healthiest. Also known as a wellness examination, your dog or cat’s yearly veterinary check up is not something to be missed. Many pet parents fear the fee from wellness visits, which isn’t covered under most pet insurance plans. According to Veterinary Centers of America, the largest pet healthcare provider in the country, your pet needs check ups at different rates depending on their life stage. To read more on this story, click here:How To Prevent Cancer in Dogs
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Ormond Beach, Florida - A sheriff's office on Florida's east coast was given a heads up Tuesday, Nov. 7, of five pieces of meat found at a dog park. Upon inspecting the meat, it was discovered fish hooks were embedded in small meatballs. At least one dog was seen eating the meat at the Michael Crotty Bicentennial Park, according to a Facebook post by the Volusia County Sheriff's Office Sheriff's Deputy Donna Bowen visited the park and found an additional contaminated meatball. Finding no others, she reviewed them with the person who found the first batch and noticed they were cold and sweating, like they were frozen and sitting in the sun. The deputy searched the park -- plus an adjacent area -- and found no other meatballs. The county's animal control called an area veterinary hospital, which did an X-ray on the dog but found no hooks inside the animal. Police aren't sure who placed the meat, however, Bowen responded to a similar report at the same park two years ago.
These food should not be given to your pets at Thanksgiving. Inform guests not to feed your pets. Turkey bones Turkey bones can cause pets to choke and if they swallow them, the bones can puncture the stomach or intestines, which could possibly kill them. Instead, give pets pieces of cooked turkey. Breast meat is best, and make sure you cut off all the bones. Turkey skin Fatty foods like turkey skin are tough for dogs to digest. In some cases, their pancreas can become inflamed, resulting in pancreatitis. Stuffing/Dressing A lot of stuffing includes scallions, garlic and onions, all three of which are toxic to animals and can cause anemia. Mushrooms If your dog eats mushrooms, the dog may experience vomiting, seizures, a coma and possibly death. (Source: Prince William County Animal Shelter) Nutmeg Pumpkin and sweet potatoes are good for your dog, but make sure they don’t contain nutmeg. It has mild hallucinogenic properties that, when ingested by your dog, can cause seizures, tremors and central nervous system problems. Alcohol Alcoholic beverages and food products containing alcohol can cause vomiting, diarrhea, decreased coordination, central nervous system depression, difficulty breathing, tremors, abnormal blood acidity, coma and even death. Under no circumstances should your pet be given any alcohol. Nuts Nuts, including almonds, pecans, and walnuts, contain high amounts of oils and fats. The fats can cause vomiting and diarrhea, and potentially pancreatitis in pets. Dough When a dog or cat ingests raw bread dough, the yeast continues to convert the sugars in the dough to carbon dioxide gas and alcohol. This can result in bloated drunken pets, which could become a life-threatening emergency, requiring hospitalization. Sage It’s in countless Thanksgiving Day recipes, but it shouldn’t be in your dog’s bowl. Sage contains oils and resins that can upset your four-legged friend’s stomach and do a number on its central nervous system. Chocolate This may seem like a no-brainer for experienced pet owners. But you may want to remind guests not to give animals a taste of chocolate desserts. It’s toxic for them. Cake If you plan to bake Thanksgiving desserts, be sure your pets keep their noses out of the batter, especially if it includes raw eggs—they could contain salmonella bacteria that may lead to food poisoning. Please share!
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Paws have claws. That’s one of nature’s laws. But some cat owners believe that they should get their cats “declawed,” or to have their fingers and toes cut off at the last knuckle. To others, this declawing process is tantamount to mutilation. Veterinarian Rachel Fuentes posted on Facebook the gruesome aftermath of a cat that had undergone a declawing procedure where part of the nail tissue was left accidentally. Rarely, viable nail tissue gets left behind, and as the nail cannot grow out and become worn down, it can grow in a spiral embedded in the flesh. In this case, the nail burst open the cat’s wrist in a mass almost as big as a ping-pong ball. To read more on this story, click here:Declawed Cat Grows Painful, Spiraling Nail After Owner Amputates Cat’s Knuckles
