#24.00 at Urban Outfitters
Monday, February 28, 2011
Smile!
This is a corded poodle. I've never seen one before. Have you?
Photo credit: Timothy A. Clary / AFP/Getty Images
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Chicago has a new mayor
(He's on the left)
Photo: Scott Strazzante, Chicago Tribune / February 24, 2011
Product Review: Clean & Green - Furniture Refresher for Dogs & Cats
I was asked to swap my current fabric refresher
for the Clean+Green Furniture Refresher, and seeing that a free sample was offered, I thought, "Sure, why not?"
With three cats, 2 resident smokers, and numerous visitors who smoke, I have to admit that there are days when my house smells a little less than fresh. I have plug-in air fresheners, and use powder odor control in the litter boxes, but never realized that our furniture and draperies retained so much of our household odors.
I've been using Clean+Green Furniture Refresher for more than a week now. I've sprayed the furniture, including the big leather recliner, the drapes, the window blinds, the carpeting, and have to admit I've even sprayed the litter boxes. Because the product is unscented, it's hard to realize that it's working, until I've been out of the house all day and come home to smell - nothing! My house smells great!
OK, one last test. My dear husband's gymn shoes smell bad enough to choke a horse. I sprayed those, too. Checked the next day & the odor is gone. Wonderful!
Clean+Green Furniture Refresher has all natural ingredients: cane sugar derivatives, proprietary botanical extracts and hydrated cellulose, purified water and nitrogen propellant (non-flammable & eco friendly.)
It's also very easy to use: Just spray - no need to soak, scrub or rinse.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Sugar substitutes can poison pets
According to the ASPCA’s poison-control office, more dogs than ever are being poisoned by products containing xylitol. That’s partly because xylitol is being used more widely but also because pet owners aren’t sufficiently aware of its dangers.
Xylitol is a sugar alcohol that is used as a sugar-free sweetener in candy, gum, baked goods, oral hygiene products and over-the-counter medications, cough drops and throat sprays. For humans Xylitol has been declared safe for use as an artificial sweetener. Pets, particularly dogs and ferrets, can become very ill if they ingest xylitol.
A few sugar-free candies, a pack of gum, a spilled tin of mints or a cup of sugar-free gelatin is all it could take to send a dog into hypoglycemia-induced seizures. Just a bit more could bring on liver failure.
FDA is advising consumers to always read the label on products and to not presume that a product that is safe for humans is safe for your pet.
If you suspect your pet has ingested xylitol, some signs to look for are depression, loss of coordination and vomiting. The signs of illness may occur within minutes to days of ingesting xylitol. Owners should consult their veterinarian or pet poison control center immediately for advice if they know or suspect that their pet has ingested a human product containing xylitol.
Source
Can horses fly?
In 1872, former Governor of California Leland Stanford, a businessman and race-horse owner, had taken a position on a popularly-debated question of the day: whether all four of a horse's hooves are off the ground at the same time during a gallop.
Stanford sided with this assertion, called "unsupported transit", and took it upon himself to prove it scientifically. Stanford sought out photographer Eadweard Muybridge and hired him to settle the question.
A series of photos taken in Palo Alto, California, is called Sallie Gardner at a Gallop or The Horse in Motion, and shows that the hooves do all leave the ground — although not with the legs fully extended forward and back, as contemporary illustrators tended to imagine, but rather at the moment when all the hooves are tucked under the horse as it switches from "pushing" with the back legs to "pulling" with the front legs.
Muybridge used a battery of cameras lined along a track. The first camera had to be triggered manually, but the rest were automatically triggered by an electronic apparatus he designed.
This series of photos stands as one of the earliest forms of videography.
Source
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
10 Downing Street has a new ratcatcher
The news of Larry's arrival at 10 Downing Street had reached the rodent community just after midday.
In the sewers beneath Westminster, along the rat-runs that criss-cross the Number 10 lawn, and in every dark corner of the corridors of power, it set tiny hearts a-beating.
Downing Street had a new cat. Not just any cat, either.
This was the one they called the rat-catcher. And from the moment Larry the white-and-tabby tom crossed the threshold, it was probably a bad day to be vermin.
Nothing is known about Larry’s past, save that he is aged about four and was rescued early in January after apparently living rough. He was taken to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, neutered, and nursed back to fine fettle by its rehoming team.
When Downing Street asked for a suitably friendly cat to deal with rats scurrying about in the buildings and on live TV broadcasts, the home volunteered Larry.
David Cameron gave a warm welcome to the four-year-old feline – who promptly fell asleep on a sofa rather than getting to work tackling the rat infestation.
Source
Read about other famous cats
Photo: Mark Large / Getty Images
Edible Giant Toasted Leafcutter Ants
Yummy!
A delicacy in many parts of Northern South America, these ants - the largest type of leafcutter ant in the world - are thought to be aphrodisiacs, and are therefore quite a common wedding gift.
They also make a nice snack, which is why ThinkGeek is selling Giant Toasted Leafcutter Ants.
(via The Presurfer)
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Interspecies Love: A man and his duck
ECHO PARK, LOS ANGELES -- In recent months the popular lap around Echo Park Lake has included a man and a goose, and together, they make for one unlikely love story.
"I never thought I'd be 65 years old and in love with a goose," said Dominic Ehrler.
Ehrler would take his daily walks, and pretty soon, the goose, nicknamed Maria by locals, was shadowing him every time he showed up.
Maria sticks by Erhler's side, even soaring alongside his red scooter as he rides home for the day.
Source
Dancing Pet Speaker
Connect your new pet to any mp3 player, iPod or computer and watch it project and dance along to your music! Requires 2- AA batteries; connection cable included. Dance kitteh!
$40.00 at Urban Outfitters
Please dont pet the cassowary
Australians trying to rebuild in the wake of Cyclone Yasi have been warned to stay away from cassowaries – huge flightless birds with claws that can disembowel a human – on the hunt for food after their habitat was destroyed by the storm.
Residents of communities around Mission Beach, on the north Queensland coast, which was almost flattened by the category five cyclone earlier this month, have been advised to beware of the 6ft tall birds, which are known to attack if they feel threatened.
In 2007 cassowaries were named the most dangerous birds in the world by the Guinness Book of Records.
Source
Photo credit: Robert South
Monday, February 21, 2011
Milk mustache?
Excellent photo collection at Buzzfeed: 35 Fancy Cats With Mustaches
I love this one:
Wolves: leave Montana, now!
"If there is a dang wolf in your corral attacking your pregnant cow, shoot that wolf. And if its pals are in the corral, shoot them, too," says Montana governor Brian Schweitzer.
Schweitzer declared he was ready to order state game officials to kill off entire wolf packs in defiance of federal protections under the Endangered Species Act.
In a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, the two-term Democrat cited his authority as governor to uphold citizens' rights "to protect their property and to continue to enjoy Montana's cherished wildlife heritage and traditions."
Schweitzer said he was driven to act out of an urgent need to assist ranchers and sportsmen left unable to control wolves posing a serious threat to livestock and elk herds.
Source
Book Review: Photobooth Dogs
Photobooth Dogs is a wonderful collection of 100 portraits, taken in photobooths, of folks who love their dogs and decided to create a photo memory of that love.
Cameron Woo, co-founder and creative director of The Bark, collected the photos from flea markets and attic boxes and documented 80 some years worth of memories.
Looking at some of these nostalgic photos makes me want to run out and find a photobooth and bring my cats to pose with me.
(via Dog Art Today)
Photo : copyright Cameron Woo, 2010
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
The Ultimate Pampered Pooches
31-year-old Louise Harris has to be one of the craziest dog owners in the world, having spent over $160,000 in the last six years, buying jewelry and accessories for her three pets.
Harris' 3 dogs, Lola, Lulu, and Larry only wear collars and tiaras studded with rubies, emeralds and Swarovski crystals, as well as the latest designer accessories, and receive weekly massages and deep coat conditioning treatments. The dogs sleep in a $3,200 four-poster bed and are featured in a commissioned oil painting that cost $8,000. Oh, and last Christmas they received $6,500 worth of presents.
Change your name to an "L" word & maybe she'll adopt you?
(via Oddity Central and Daily Mail)
So, who is cuter?
In light of Hickory, a Scottish deerhound, winning Westminster, Hollywood Life wants your opinion - who's cuter - Hickory,
or the pink poodle, who is an accomplished runway model.
Cast your vote.
or the pink poodle, who is an accomplished runway model.
Cast your vote.
Best in show: Scottish deerhound
Hickory, a Scottish deerhound from Virginia, took top honors at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on Tuesday night. She is the first member of her breed ever to win best in show at Westminster.
The Scottish deerhound, a large sighthound originally used to hunt stags, has existed in much the same form since around the 16th century. A deerhound was once the prized pet of Sir Walter Scott, who described the breed as "the most perfect creature of heaven."
Source
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Stubby, the heroic dog
The single most decorated dog in U.S. history.
See my earlier post about Stubby, or
read more about Stubby at the Smithsonian Museum.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Growing number of farm animals spawn new diseases
A growing number of livestock, such as cows and pigs, are fueling new animal epidemics worldwide and posing more severe problems in developing countries as it threatens their food security, according to a report released by the International Livestock Research Institute.
Seventy-five percent of emerging infectious diseases originate in animals. Of these 61 percent are transmissible between animals and humans.
A new disease emerges every four months; many are trivial but HIV, SARS and avian influenza illustrate the huge potential impacts.
The report warned that rapid urbanization and climate change could act as "wild cards," altering the present distribution of diseases, sometimes "dramatically for the worse."
Source
Cute or not? Baby red-haired baboon
On January 26, Israel's Ramat Gan Safari announced the birth of a rare, adorable red-haired baby girl. Just like humans, the gene for red hair amongst Hamadryas Baboons is recessive and it was exactly 30 years ago when the last red-haired baboon was born at the old Tel Aviv Zoo.
(via ZooBorns)
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Bangkok authorities bust animal smuggler
Bangkok authorities have busted a man who attempted to board a plane carrying enough creatures to start a small zoo.
The Indonesian smuggler's three suitcases contained:
2 boa constrictors
34 ball pythons
26 lizards of assorted kinds
6 Argentine horned frogs
18 baboon spiders
22 squirrels
a parrot
and close to 150 tortoises of various species
Many of the creatures in the man's suitcase menagerie were from rare and endangered species, including a plowshare tortoise, of which fewer than a thousand exist. Traffic says the man bought all the animals at Bangkok's Chatuchak market, a notorious hub for trading in rare animals.
Source
Cross-eyed opossum to pick Oscar winners
Germany's celebrity cross-eyed opossum Heidi has been recruited by Hollywood to predict winners of the Academy Awards on U.S. television.
The opossum will appear from her home in Leipzig, Germany, on the "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" show on channel ABC, which also broadcasts the Oscars.
Source
Stray cats take over KY town
TAYLORSVILLE, KY - People in Taylorsville say they are fed up with unwanted stray cats, but it seems they have no choice for now but to welcome the group. Meanwhile, the mayor says the city is doing everything they can to control the problem.
There are cats running around downtown, at gas stations, and even roaming around people's homes - and cars.
"They're all over the cars," one resident said. "You go up there and look at the cat crap on the hood and stuff."
Mayor Pay says the cats have been a growing problem for several years, but thinks they're making progress in tackling it. Pay says they've spayed and neutered at least 100 cats and still have about 200-300 to go. He believes those efforts will eventually help lower the stray cat population.
Source
There are cats running around downtown, at gas stations, and even roaming around people's homes - and cars.
"They're all over the cars," one resident said. "You go up there and look at the cat crap on the hood and stuff."
Mayor Pay says the cats have been a growing problem for several years, but thinks they're making progress in tackling it. Pay says they've spayed and neutered at least 100 cats and still have about 200-300 to go. He believes those efforts will eventually help lower the stray cat population.
Source
Monday, February 14, 2011
Must be love
Happy Valentines Day!
Amit Dave / Reuters
Albeiro Lopera / Reuters
Georgios Kefalas / EPA
Yoshikazu Tsuno / AFP - Getty Images
(via)
Amit Dave / Reuters
Albeiro Lopera / Reuters
Georgios Kefalas / EPA
Yoshikazu Tsuno / AFP - Getty Images
(via)
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
Looks like Noah's Ark
In this photo provided by the Samatian Island Lodge, endangered Rothschild giraffe, originally named Baringo giraffe, are trans-located to Ruko Game Conservancy by barge, making this the first ever attempt to carry giraffe across water in Kenya, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2011.
Eight giraffes, who number only a few hundred in the wild, were relocated to the native habitat they had vanished from 70 years ago in hopes that they will reproduce.
Source
(AP Photo/Samatian Island Lodge)
A beauty contest ... for horses
Once prized by Alexander the Great for their speed and stamina, Turkmenistan's thoroughbred horses are being groomed for a series of beauty contests, ordered by a presidential decree published Monday.
President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, who enjoys sweeping powers in this desert nation of 5 million and is known for his deft horsemanship, said national beauty contests for the ancient Akhal Teke breed should be held every April.
The best horses of the breed, distinguished by shimmering coats, long delicate necks and legs and popularly revered as "the wings of the Turkmen," will be chosen "to promote the glory of the heavenly racehorse worldwide," the decree said.
Source
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
What to do if your pet is missing
This is a great list of what to do if you've had a pet escape or wander off. Print yourself a copy and tuck it in a drawer.
These tips for finding a lost cat or dog are from experts at the Anti-Cruelty of Chicago, PAWS Chicago, Feline Friends Chicago and the Citizens for Animal Protection:
† Act immediately. The longer you wait, the farther your pet can travel. Plus, the chances of your pet getting injured increases.
† Leave items with a familiar scent outside your home. A litter box, pet bed or a shirt or shoes recently worn by the pet owner can attract a pet who has strayed.
† Search the neighborhood. Walk, ride a bicycle or drive slowly through your neighborhood several times each day. Whistle a few times, then call your pet’s name twice. Listen carefully and look around.
† Your pet may be injured, frightened or trapped and unable to come to you. Hearing your voice may encourage your pet to answer you. After you call the pet’s name two or three times, remain in one place long enough to see if you can hear your pet.
† A lost pet may hide during the day, so go out again at night through your neighborhood with a flashlight and call for your cat or dog.
† Ask neighbors, letter carriers and delivery people, anyone you see, if they have seen your pet.
† Post flyers at intersections within a two-mile radius of the area of where your pet was lost. Also, give flyers to local grocery stores, community centers, pet stores, veterinary offices, churches and laundromats.
† The flyers should have a photograph of the pet and how to reach you as well as provide information such as fur color, breed and eye color.
† Advertise in local and community newspapers.
† Visit all local animal shelters and animal-control agencies as well as call or e-mail them. Your pet could show up at any time.
† File a lost pet report with every shelter in the city and suburbs. Check with the shelters every few days.
† If your pet was lost anywhere near a highway, contact the area’s department of transportation.
† Call veterinary hospitals.
† Do not send reward money or offer information to anyone claiming they have your pet.
† File a lost pet report with the Police Department.
Source
via Leslie's Omnibus
This is not right
This is a KatKabin, an outdoor cat house.
"A unique and innovative cat shelter that provides your cat with all the warmth, comfort & safety it is used to indoors. Standing above the ground, it provides a warm, cozy and shaded insulated den for napping, stretching and relaxing. Your cat is protected from the weather in a sturdy and purpose-made home. The opening also has a conventional clip-on cat flap that can be attached or removed depending on the season or your cat’s preference."Why, why, why - would any responsible cat owner allow their pet to live OUTSIDE? Look, here's one, begging to come in!
At Amazon.com for $99.00.