Asides


2008/5/16 Happy endanger species day! Hey, did you know today’s a holiday? That’s right: it’s Endangered Species Day, 5/16/08, a national celebration to spread awareness about all our planet’s wildlife, fish, and plants—including the beloved polar bear—that are threatened with extinction. It’s also a great day to take action to help save them. One of the most important actions of all? Spreading the word. More... 0

2008/5/12 Caw to art! #17. Reminder. Caw to art! is an effort to showcase animals and pets in an ARTFUL manner. More... 0

2008/5/12 Pets on lap while driving may soon be a no-no in Calif. SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP)—Pull over and put down the dog. A California lawmaker wants to ban motorists from holding pets on their laps while driving and getting caught can net a $35 fine. The bill passed the Assembly on a 44-11 vote on Monday, and heads to the Senate. More... 2

2008/5/12 Australian pokes shark in eye to survive mauling. SYDNEY, Australia (AP)—An Australian swimmer says he survived a mauling by a 16-foot shark by wrestling with the beast, finally getting free by poking it in the eye. More... 0

2008/5/12 $2,500 HSUS reward. Dog killings. The HSUS Offers Reward In Lincoln County, Mont. Dog Killings. The Humane Society of the United States is offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for killing at least nine dogs in the Libby, Troy and Eureka areas of Montana over the past five weeks. More... 0

2008/4/8 Caw to art! #16. Reminder. Caw to art! is an effort to showcase animals and pets in an ARTFUL manner. More... 0

2008/4/1 Congressional hearing tomorrow: Kempthorne hides, Center testifies. The Bush administration’s refusal to list the polar bear as an endangered species took a bizarre turn last week when Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne refused to testify at tomorrow’s Senate hearing. More... 0

2008/3/31 Caw to art! #15 alert! Caw to art! is an effort to showcase animals and pets in an ARTFUL manner. A photograph, fine art, a scribble, sculpture. A poem, a monologue, a short story, motion. More... 1

2008/3/17 Dolphin appears to guide whales to sea WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP)—Most days, Moko the bottlenosed dolphin swims playfully with humans at a New Zealand beach. But this week, it seems, Moko found his mojo. Witnesses described Wednesday how they saw the dolphin swim up to two stranded whales and guide them to safety. More... 3

2008/3/17 Tiny Iowa town rescinds $5 cat bounty DES MOINES, Iowa (AP)—Cat haters, never mind: The tiny town of Randolph has rescinded a $5 bounty on feral feline. 0

2008/3/17 Nucaraquan’s celebrate mass for dogs. MASAYA, Nicaragua (Reuters)—Hundreds of dogs, many dressed as babies or clowns, were taken to celebrate mass in this Nicaraguan town on Sunday, an annual ritual where the owners pray for their pets to be cured or avoid falling ill. More... 0

2008/2/26 Spay day USA. 2/26. Per the Humane Society (HSUS) there are many activities happening Tuesday, Feb. 26—the 14th annual Spay Day USA! More... 0

2008/2/25 On-air cockroach gets TV crew fired. TURKMENISTAN—Turkmenistan president Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedo sacked 30 TV employees after viewers of the 9 p.m. news program complained about an unscheduled appearance of … a cockroach. More... 0

2008/2/25 Woman says dog saved her life with Heimlich Manuever. DAYTON, Ohio—a woman says her life was saved by her 4-year-old Shih Tzu, Chewie when he “performed” the Heimlich maneuver on her. More... 0

2008/2/19 The HSUS offers reward in Indianapolis horse shooting. The Humane Society of the United States is offering a reward up to $2,500 for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for the shooting death of ­a 29-year-old quarter horse, who was found dead in the back yard of an Indianapolis woman’s home. More... 0

2008/2/11 Court rejects timber industry attack on threatened seabird. WASHINGTON DC—On February 5 the courts thwarted the timber industry’s latest attack on the marbled murrelet. More... 1

2007/11/23 P&G partners with NBC Universal to launch pet site. CINCINNATI and NEW YORK—Procter & Gamble Productions, Inc. (PGP) and NBC Universal Digital Media (NBCU) today announced the launch of a new website for dog and cat owners —Petside.com. More... 0

2007/11/16 Responsible Pet Owners Alliance: SAN ANTONIO. We need your help to get objectionable provisions of the San Antonio Chapter 5 Animal Ordinance Revision removed. More... 0

2007/11/13 Man gets 6 months for killing wife’s kitten. A BITTER husband who killed his wife’s kitten by putting it in a tumble drier is starting a six-month jail sentence. More... 0

2007/11/13 Woman asks to keep miniature horse in apartment. Wants Animal To Pull Her Wheelchair. Montpelier, VT—Patty Cooper’s landlord normally welcomes tenants who use animals to help them get around, such as guide dogs for the blind. More... 0




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Maukie the cat!

Archive for March, 2007

The cars in dog heaven have no wheels.

Posted in Death, Mammals, Stories on March 26th, 2007 by PM

Buford was not as dumb as his name might imply. Well, sometimes he wasn’t, anyway. For a while, he ran with a bad crowd – the dogs from down the road that took to killing the sheep across the river. We knew that our dog was just scavenging what the others had killed; we also knew the sheeps’ owner would have every reason and right to rid himself of any canine scourge, even ours.

So we started chaining Buford up when we weren’t home. It was a long chain, but still: cooped up all day in the driveway with only three trees to play with. And one to play in. It was nearly dead, with a hollow at the top of the trunk that filled with rain on a regular basis. Buford would sometimes scramble up, to stand and drool amid the few large, lopped-off branches before skittering down to wave his long feathery tail at us as we cheered. Read the rest of this entry »

Open letter to my girlfriend’s cat.

Posted in Gross, Humor, Mammals, Stories on March 26th, 2007 by PM

Listen, I get that you’re a cat. I’m actually OK with all that. I like not having to take you on 5am walks or to pry a slobbery, grass-caked tennis ball out of your food hole only to throw it again so that you can have a cheap thrill. You’re above all that. But still…gimme a break, shithead!

It’s like, I’m minding my own business, asleep in my bed, totally dreaming about pizza, and you lay down on my face! Hey, ass butt, news flash: I need that to breath and live! Don’t sleep on it! Shit! Also I can smell your butt when you do that, because your idiot moron cat brain makes you think that I might actually WANT to smell it (which I totally don’t) so you deftly position it right in front of my nose. Here’s a shocker, my friend - your butt smells bad! It smells like a butt that just got pooped out of! DIARRHEA pooped out of. I’m no vet, but you should get that checked out. I know the whole barbed johnson thing makes gettin’ some a bit less complicated for you, but I can tell you from personal experience that girls don’t want to be constantly reminded that you have an asshole and poop comes out of it. Read the rest of this entry »

Chloe’s Story

Posted in Disability, Mammals, Stories on March 26th, 2007 by PM

I was out riding my bike one day, with my chocolate lab Hannah, and this woman came running out of nowhere screaming for her dog to come back, which was steadily at least five feet ahead of her. The woman finally caught the dog and snatched it up by the nape of the neck, quite roughly. I was upset by the treatment of the dog, and stopped my bike to talk to the lady. Once I focused on the dog more closely, I could see she was missing her front right leg. The woman informed me the dog’s name was Tripod. She had come out of a litter of three pups, and she was the only one that was hindered with a birth defect. She had many problems as a puppy, and the former owners were not very concerned with vet care.

This woman made the comment that she was surprised the dog had lived past the first few weeks of birth. Without her leg, she could not pull herself around well enough to fight the other pups for milk. She almost died of malnutrition. The lady informed me that she and her husband were moving to Chicago, and they would be dumping the dog at the Humane Society, because even though it was somewhat cute as a puppy, she felt it was an ugly adult, and a pain to deal with. She said the dog would never come when called. She then asked me if I wanted another dog! Read the rest of this entry »

Guide dogs remember.

Posted in Mammals, Oddly enough, Stories on March 26th, 2007 by PM

I have had three guide dogs, and they have all been attuned to my moods. If I am depressed, they seem to be; and if I am happy, they will reflect that, too.

My first guide dog moved with me to Memphis, Tennessee. We didn’t get back home to Nashville very often. Once, I remember, it was three years since we had been there. Yet every time we traveled back to Memphis, my dog would sleep until we were almost there. Then she’d wake up when we got near home! Also, she remembered that we used to live in Nashville, and when we’d go downtown, she’d always still stop at some of the places we used to go when we lived there! I found lots of old friends that way. This never ceased to amaze me how she could do that!

Source: paranormal.about.com

Grossest pet story. Ever.

Posted in Gross, Mammals, Stories on March 26th, 2007 by PM

This morning, I was assaulted by my cat in a way that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. My kitties and I have a morning routine that involves saying goodbye before I walk out the door. I was suited up, ready to go, and I walked over to my dresser to retrieve my keys. As usual, my male kitty was lounging on the dresser, waiting for him goodbye scratches. He stood up to give me my usual nuzzle goodbye, and then the most unholy of acts took place. The friendly feline stretched, and the force of his stretch caused his anal glands to express….all over my face and in my mouth.

Now, a little biology background for those of you who aren’t in the know. Dogs and cats have these glands in their anus that get expressed, usually when they defecate. The smell is somewhat akin to rotting bodies that have been dry-rubbed with gorgonzola cheese and then spit-roasted over a pile of burning feces. Yum. Plus, like all organic smells, it tends to bind to fabrics, which makes for a pleasant surprise when your cat rubs its butt on your sheets or couch. But, nothing compares to being sprayed full on in the face with this heinous slime. Read the rest of this entry »

Bringing in breakfast.

Posted in Editor's choice, Fish, Stories on March 26th, 2007 by PM

I awoke in the gray of dawn, blinking hard to get my bearings. I was in a small nylon tent on a rocky outcrop jutting into Lake Superior. Through the open flap all I could see was black water meeting vast purple sky.

Besides me, snoring peacefully in his sleeping bag, was my college dorm mate Kurt Iverson, whom everyone called Woodstock, a nickname whose origins not even he knew. The two of us had forged a fast friendship the previous year as freshmen, despite all odds. He was a northern Michigan country kid, lean and angular, with an abiding love of hunting and fishing. He tied his own trout flies and could skin a rabbit in two minutes flat. Read the rest of this entry »

Cat lovers & Italy

Posted in Mammals, Photos on March 25th, 2007 by PM

Marco, a large brown tabby cat, stately sits on his haunches outside Venice’s Ospedale Civile, welcoming all who come to visit loved ones at this hospital. Is that a smirk on his face, or do I imagine a smug smile when I notice a sign on the door showing a dog in a circle with the slash symbol through it? Marco is the hospital’s official greeter. “It gives people hope when they see him,” says Gabriella Sanna, secretary of Dingo, a non-profit organization that helps care for some 500 stray cats in Venice and its islands. Venice is but one Italian city where numerous gattare (cat ladies) take care of homeless felines and is the first stop on our 12-day “Cats and Culture” tour from Venice to Rome in October’s perfect weather.

cat italy-1cat italy-2Venetians’ affection for cats dates back centuries because of the feline affinity for rodents. Special Venetian cats even were bred in the 13th Century to go after rats carrying the black plague. About 40 cats — gatti, in Italian — live at Venice’s main hospital, which dates from the 15th Century. “The hospital has many mice, so the cats are welcome here,” Sanna says. Read the rest of this entry »

Pet-Food Recall

Posted in Food, Health, News on March 24th, 2007 by PM

Pet-Food Recall Over 40 brands of cat and dog food have been pulled from the shelves all over the U.S. Read the rest of this entry »

No bunny pets.

Posted in News on March 24th, 2007 by PM

No bunny pets.It is Easter time again. Many parents are tempted to buy one of those cute little Easter bunnies that appear in pet stores. Read the rest of this entry »

The Donald and Thanksgiving dinner

Posted in Birds, Death, Gross, Stories on March 21st, 2007 by kk

When I was eight my parents took me and friends to a Memorial Day fair. It was an hour drive and the third time we went so I was looking forward to all that the fair could offer. I sort of remember the weather being nice enough and one of the fun things was to pitch nickels in plates to win - ducklings! Well of course we went home with one and it was no big deal to get a box, a bowl of water, lettuce.The duck was named Donald and my first experience with an unusual rural type pet as we lived in the city. Throughout the summer Donald played in an inflatable swimming pool in the back yard and followed me and my friends around the yard. Fun!

As Donald matured, going from yellow fuzzy to white feathers he ate more and, crapped more. You would think with all the play time in the pool he would smell better as a young adult. By November Donald was now a duck.

Duckling

My mother, who was bred and born in the city, did the unexpected that’s for sure. With no warning except to say as we all sat down for our Thanksgiving dinner that she had some news for us. It was about Donald. My dad just stared at her for a full five minutes it seemed. He then slowly got up, rolled up his napkin on the table and said that he was going out for dinner and would like company. I really don’t remember the details that followed except my dad was not very hungry. I do remember going to the first McDonald’s in the neighborhood and eating in silence.

This is just one of my many pet stories with my mom. This photo is not of Donald but the story seems to pop up every year in late November.

Turkey


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