The D.C. area ranks second in the nation out of 200 metropolitan cities examined for cases of heartworm disease among pets, according to a report by the Companion Animal Parasite Council. Washington comes in behind Moreno Valley, California, on the list and above Newark, New Jersey, Indianapolis, Indiana, and Cheyenne, Wyoming, in the top five. Craig Prior, past CAPC president, says that the organization has seen a 20% rise in cases of heartworm disease nationally in the last five years. “When we’re seeing these spikes in the prevalence rates in places like D.C. and other areas where you normally won’t see large numbers of heartworms, we realize that there’s something going on here that you need to be aware of and that you need to talk to your veterinarian because your dog has got the potential to be exposed,” said Prior, who has been a veterinarian for more than 35 years. To read more on this story, click here:DC ranks 2nd in top 10 cities for prevalence of heartworms in pets
Sir Patrick Stewart and his wife Sunny Ozell are passionate about pit bulls. They made a goal to foster three of them during this season’s filming of Picard and in bringing Ella home, they have met that goal.
Sunny is clearly smitten with Ella already, saying on Instagram that she has taken to calling her Ella Bella Cinderella because she is such a “pretty princess.” Like countless other pitties, she enjoys snuggling up on the couch under the comfort of a cozy blanket. Stewart and Ozell work with the rescue group Wags and Walks in fostering these wonderful pups. Based in Los Angeles, the group rescues family friendly dogs and works to find them foster and forever homes. They rely on donations to keep things running as well as fundraising through various event. Tickets are on sale now for their 9th annual Wags & Walks Benefit Gala in October. The star-studded event will be hosted by the fabulous Judy Greer and Sir Patrick and Sunny will be special guests.
In Siberia, Russia the winter can be incredibly harsh, the temperature can drop to severe lows (-60°c). Even summer in this country can be overshadowed by rain and some snow. That is why people have to prepare to help them through the extreme cold and dark months. However, not all animals are as resilient and can survive through the rough weather. Ryzhik (Ginger or Redhead) was found Tomsk, the city of Siberia where temperatures dropped to minus 40°c. All of his paws were so badly frostbitten, with gangrene setting in quickly and the vet had no other option but amputation. Despite losing all limbs, Ryzhik’s new owner didn’t give up him and decided to take him to a clinic in Novosibirsk, where can set him up with four prosthetic paws. To read more on this story, click here:This Cat Lost His Limbs To Frostbite And Now He Was Fitted With Artificial Ones
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Stephy Hirst from Australia always knew her kitty Omar was a big guy. Still, she was surprised when Guinness Records contacted her saying he might be the longest feline in the world. “At first I thought ‘is this real?’,” said Hirst. “We thought he might be (the longest cat in the world) but we hadn’t done anything about it because he might not be fully grown yet.” “(Omar) was tiny when we got him but then he just started growing and was at 22 lbs one year old.” Hirst decided to measure Omar and he came in around 3.93 ft weighing 30.86 lbs. Up until now, this Guinness title belonged to UK-based Maine Coon Ludo, who is measured at around 3.88 ft. After the his picture was posted on Cats Of Instagram, Omar became an Internet sensation. However, stardom doesn’t affect his daily routine, which includes waking up at 5 AM, eating kibble for breakfast, napping outside on the trampoline, and enjoying some raw kangaroo meat for dinner. “He sleeps on the couch … because he takes up too much room on the bed and he demands we cuddle and pet him all through the night.” Hirst says her husband always wanted a big cat – well, there you have it! To read more on this story, click here:Couple Is Proud Of Having The Longest Cat In The World
CONTENT ADVISORY This post contains graphic content and pictures that may be upsetting to some. Viewer discretion is advised. Dallas, an 9-month-old miniature bull terrier, was brought to Off-Leash K9 Training facility to be potty trained and learn basic obedience. His owners thought they were leaving their beloved dog in the care of professionals and never imagined any harm would come to him. Instead of being treated like a family member, Dallas was deprived of food and starved to death. Dallas spent five weeks at Off-Leash K9 Training in Johnson City, Tennessee. During that time the family said they were told they couldn’t visit because it would disrupt the training. Originally, Dallas was scheduled for two weeks of training, but the owners said the trainer told them he needed more time for housebreaking. To read more on this story, click here:Dog Dies From Starvation At Training Facility
Service dogs in Canada caught a performance of “Billy Elliot: The Musical” as part of their training last week. And cute images of the pooches peering over the backs of seats at the Festival Theatre in Stratford, Ontario, are now going viral. The group of dogs attended one of the Stratford Festival’s “relaxed performances.” The shows are “specifically designed to welcome patrons who will benefit from a less restricted audience environment,” according to the festival’s website. To read more on this story, click here:Very Good Service Dogs Watch 'Billy Elliot: The Musical' At The Theater
It’s only natural for humans to fear snakes and spiders; it’s an instinct that warns us of potentially poisonous creatures. That being the case, a humongous huntsman spider, home to Australia, could be someone’s worst nightmare. But that’s not the case for Barnyard Betty’s Rescue, a Queensland animal sanctuary that rescues all sorts of animals in need. A viral photo taken by Betty herself testifies to this after she rescued a huntsman spider the size of a dinner plate. Betty’s posted it online and described the encounter: “Yes, she is very real and very large and not photoshopped,” the description read. “She was a beautiful, calm spider, not aggressive in any way and like most spiders she just wanted to go about her business eating bugs and living in peace. “She didn’t or doesn’t need to be killed! Poor spiders are so misunderstood!” To read more on this story, click here:Woman Finds HUGE Huntsman Spider the Size of a Dinner Plate and Rescues It With a Broom
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Montgomery Parks urged dog owners to keep their pets on a leash and out of the lakes There are elevated levels of a toxic substance that could be deadly to dogs and harmful to people in two lakes in Montgomery County, Maryland, officials say. Blue-green algae released the toxin microcystin in Lake Needwood and Lake Frank in Rock Creek Regional Park. If ingested, microcystin can cause liver damage to people and pets. The toxin often appears at the lakes during the summer. "An algal bloom toxicity can be very dangerous and possibly lethal if not treated when clinical signs start occurring," Dr. Matthew Antokowiak, a veterinarian at AtlasVet in Washington, D.C., previously told News4 in 2017. Montgomery Parks said in a statement Tuesday that pet owners should keep their dogs on leashes and not allow them to drink or come into contact with the water. To read more on this story, click here:Algae Toxin That Can Kill Dogs Discovered in 2 Montgomery County Lakes
For rescue dogs, this is their day. Watch the first dog show that does not judge a dog on their breed, but rather their personality. Dogs do not have to be purebred to compete, and mutts are our favorites. The only requirement is that the dogs all be rescues. This dog show will be showcasing the dogs’ best traits out of 10 categories. Rebecca Romijn and Rich Eisen are the hosts, and the program features some celebrities as the judges. To read more on this story, click here:Spotlight Is On Rescue Dogs In First-Ever American Rescue Dog Show
An act of kindness was captured in a video when a disabled man got out of his wheelchair in order to shuffle down a grass embankment in order to rescue a small kitten that was caught in a storm drain. 30-year-old Abu Fathiyyaturahma Menk Abdun Mujtahid first noticed the kitten struggling to hold onto the concrete barriers in Sabah, Malaysia, last Saturday morning. Despite his inability to use his legs, Abu didn’t hesitate to get out of his wheelchair to get down to the stranded cat. His friend, who is also in a wheelchair, managed to film the moment that Abu rescued the kitten. When Abu first reached the drain, he realized that he was too far away to reach the kitten so he then readjusted his position in order to try again. To read more on this story, click here:Disabled Man Leaves His Wheelchair And Risks His Life To Rescue Kitten Stuck In Drain
Lynn Wainman arrived to her Hollywood home on Valentine’s Day to find that it had been ransacked. Her jewelry was stolen, but worst of all, her beloved dog named Daisy was missing as well. Wainman had adopted Daisy from the shelter more than seven years ago. Daisy has a severe skin condition that requires medication. Without it, her skin could become very bad, so Wainman worried about this as well. Months after Daisy had gone missing, a good Samaritan saw her on a road in North Miami Beach and took her in to try and find the owner. They scanned the dog for a microchip, which she had, but it still had the previous owner’s information. But with a lot of hard work, they finally were able to find Wainman. “I feel very excited because she’s back home and I know she’s going to be around people who love her and who are going to care about her,” said the good Samaritan, Joceline Paria. To read more on this story, click here: Dog Stolen In Home Burglary Found Months Later In Awful Condition
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A blind pet does have some special needs, including a protected environment. This is particularly important because they behave so normally that you may forget that they are handicapped. Hazards for a blind pet include swimming pools, traffic and balconies. A blind dog should always be kept on a leash when outside of a fenced yard; you may find a harness works better than a collar for guiding your pet on walks outdoors. There are tools available to help you keep your pet safe while still allowing some freedom. For example, there is an alarm you can attach to your pets collar to alert you if they fall in the swimming pool. While there are certainly some things that they may be unable to do, most of the activities that are important to our pets are still possible. A blind dog or cat will behave remarkably normally in their own home. Animals that lose vision gradually appear to adjust better than those that lose vision rapidly. In both cases, with a bit of patience, we have found that almost every pet can make this adjustment. They will remember where their food and water are and rarely bump into things in the home. Try not to rearrange the furniture and you will be amazed at how well your pet will remember the floor plan, even going up and down stairs. They will still play with toys and may prefer a ball with a bell or a squeak toy. They will enjoy interacting with their human family in most all of the same ways as they did before they lost vision. A blind pet can continue in every way in their primary role as a loving companion.
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Cats, dogs, parrots and even fish are right or left-handed, scientists have revealed. The discovery was made by psychologists from Queen's University Belfast, who as part of their research played with 42 pet cats for weeks on end. Dogs are the same - until they are spayed or neutered, when the difference disappears, suggesting hormones play a role in left or right-handedness. They found that females are 'right-handed' while toms favor the left.
Paw preference: Female dogs favor their right front paw and males choose their left, according to the study. The scientists also reported that parrots will pick up objects with their 'dominant' foot, toads are mostly right-handed and fish will have a preference to left or right when they dodge a predator - and even humpback whales prefer the right side of their jaws when feeding. Dogs wag their tails to the right when relaxed and to the left when agitated, this week's New Scientist reports. The experts said: 'Male and female cats differ in their behavioral patterns, for example hunting styles and parental care, and it is possible that these place different demands on motor functioning.'
Female felines use their right paw while toms tend to use their left Dr Culum Brown, a behavioral ecologist, said they also tested the theory with parrots: "Anything they are interested in they will pick up with their dominant foot". Curiously, those parrots that favor their left or right rather than liking both equally, have been shown to be brainier. With goldfish, the way they dodge predators is likely to allow them to use a specific eye and side of the brain to deal with the threat. To test it out, place an unfamiliar object in the center of your fish tank and watch which way your pet swims round it. Toads, however, prefer their right, and pounce more quickly on morsels of food that enter their line of vision from their right. Humpback whales prefer to use the right side of their jaws to scrape up sand eels from the ocean floor. While there are advantages in following the crowd, it can also be good to be different. For instance, those humans or animals that are left-handed, or pawed, in a right-handed world, have the surprise on their side when they launch an attack.
Most ticks do not carry diseases, and most tick bites do not cause serious health problems. But it is important to remove a tick as soon as you find it. Removing the tick completely may help you avoid diseases such as Lyme disease that the tick may pass on during feeding, or a skin infection where it bit you. When you return home from areas where ticks might live, carefully examine your skin and scalp for ticks. Check your pets, too.
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