Pet Monologues

Kobe Bryant’s popularity extends even to the animal kingdom. From a database of more than 465,000 pet insured animals including dogs, cats, birds, and exotic domesticated animals, 359 are named “Kobe,” making it the 189th most popular name of 65,536 pet names across the nation. Read the rest of this entry »

We have often heard, and probably experienced, that a human bite can be more infectious than an animal’s bite. Well, what about your pet hamster as a deadly-germ machine? What’s a parent to do?

chicago tribune

The American Academy of Pediatrics, just published that pets pose serious health threats to young children.

Here’s the lineup of no-no pets:
• Reptiles. Small turtles were banished from pet stores decades ago because they harbor salmonella, which causes intestinal problems that can be deadly in children. But other reptiles, including iguanas, lizards, and snakes, also carry salmonella that doesn’t sicken them but could land your kid in the hospital.

• Hamsters. These small, furry rodents are not just cute. They’re carriers of salmonella and have sparked outbreaks of lymphocytic choriomeningitis, a virus that causes brain inflammation and can lead to permanent nerve damage.

• Hedgehogs. These adorable nocturnal critters are increasingly popular in the United States, despite the fact that they can spread salmonella, yersinia pseudotuberculosis (which causes appendicitis-like abdominal pain), and rabies. Hedgehogs’ prickly spines also make it more likely that they will transmit fungal skin infection.

• Monkeys and other primates. Macaques spread herpes B virus, which can cause fatal meningitis in humans, and primates spread a host of other nasty germs, including tuberculosis. A more likely risk is injury, since even “tame” primates have seriously injured trained handlers. Read the rest of this entry »

A turkey is either one of two species of large birds in the genus Meleagris native to North America. Turkeys are classed in the order Galliformes. Formerly they were considered a distinct family, Meleagrididae, but more recently were reclassified as a subfamily (Meleagridinae) of the pheasants and their allies. The two species are the North American Wild Turkey (M. gallopavo) and the Central American Ocellated Turkey (M. ocellata).

Meleagridinae, species not sure, anyone know?

Turkeys have a distinctive fleshy carbuncle that hangs from the beak, called a snood. As with many galliform species, the female is smaller than the male, and much less colorful. With wingspans of 1.5–1.8 meters (almost 6 feet), the turkeys are by far the largest birds in the open forests in which they live, and are rarely mistaken for any other species. The usual lifespan for a turkey is 10 years.

When Europeans first encountered turkeys in the Americas, they incorrectly identified the birds as a type of guinea fowl (Numida meleagris), also known as a turkey-cock from its importation to Central Europe through Turkey, and the name of that country stuck as the name of the bird. The confusion is also reflected in the scientific name: meleagris is Greek for guinea-fowl. Read the rest of this entry »

I admit, when I encounter a pet snake of say 24-36″ inches in length, a lot of thoughts cross my mind. The movie Anaconda for one. But each time, after awhile, the snake grows on me. Not that I would ever get one for a pet. For sure, not now.

Emerald tree boa

A story told by a veterinarian:

“This Lady had this kink with exotic animals, and some years ago she bought a boa, and she let the boa slither around the house all the time. There were no problems; every day Snakey had insects for lunch, and when she grew up, some mice… a nice life indeed for a boa.

“However, after a year or so, Snakey started to present an odd behavior. At night, she would crawl besides her master’s bed and stiffen as if she was in pain. The Lady would then try to console her, to no use. The boa kept getting tenser and tenser, until she was rigid as a baseball bat and completely straight. After a few hours, Snakey would relax and slither normally. Read the rest of this entry »