Pet Monologues

Animal art has been on our brain for several weeks when we got sidetracked with World Animal Day. Then last week we visited “Watermark” and found, yes “Cats in art” which inspired this post. We will title this “Cats in art” also so it will be easy to find. A good place to start is Egypt.

A wall painting fragment in the tomb of Amenemheb at Thebes in Egypt depicts the deceased nobleman standing in his boat and driving the birds from a papyrus swamp with a stick. Just in front of him his hunting cat has caught two birds in its front and hind claws and is holding the wings of a third bird in its teeth. [c. 1450 B.C., wall painting fragment, Thebes]

The cat was sacred to the Egyptian goddess Bast. Cemeteries containing the bodies of mummified sacred cats have been discovered with bronze statues of cats. We were, and are, simply divine. [c. 600 B.C., bronze, Egypt]

Cats are known to have been a part of Egyptian households by 1600 B.C. although they were not deified until much later. This touching portrayal of a mama cat with her kitten provides a glimpse of domestic life in the good old days when cats were everyday objects of worship. [c. 600 B.C., bronze, Egypt]

Source: netserve.com
Inspiration: Watermark

Scientific Name: Botia macracanthus
Other Scientific Name(s): Cobitis macracanthus, Botia macrocanthus
Common Name: Clown Loach

Clown loaches are very popular aquarium fish; however they are not always easy to keep successfully since they easily succumb to ick and are sensitive to poor water conditions. This article is intended to help new clown loach owners provide a good home for their loaches. Clown loaches are found in Indonesia (Sumatra and Borneo), and almost all clown loaches in aquariums are wild caught and distributed around the world before being sold. This can put considerable stress on the fish, and a vital step in getting a healthy clown loach school in your aquarium is choosing healthy fish. But how to make sure that you get healthy fish?

Image from Dorling Kindersley

- Check the general conditions in the fish store. Are there dead fish in the aquariums? Is the water clean? If some tanks are mistreated there is a good chance that there might be unfavourable conditions in others too. Only buy fish from stores that take good care of their aquariums.

- How do the clown loaches look? Clown loaches can give you an indication of their condition based on their coloration. A healthy clown loach shows clear distinct colours, while a stressed one loses its colours and becomes whiter. Only buy loaches that show their correct colours.

- Are the clown loaches well fed? Those that haven’t been fed correctly are hard to nurse back to health, and it is more than likely you will end up with a dead fish if you buy one. Look at their bodies and see if they look well fed, and ask the shopkeepers how often and what the loaches are fed.

- Are the clown loaches active? Healthy clown loaches are very active and full of energy. A healthy clown loach should be hard to catch. Read the rest of this entry »

While reading one of my fave magazines I stumble upon an article that pet lovers would enjoy. This article was taken out of Wired Magazine and titled “A Canine Hotel May Sound Luxe, but There’s No Place Like Home”

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Room Z5 is empty except for a faux-suede floor pillow, a 14-inch flatscreen TV, an IP network camera, and a 9-pound miniature pinscher sitting motionless by the steel door. After a few minutes, the pooch gets up, walks across the room, and settles on the pillow, almost covering the white letters that spell out w-a-g. Kitschy dance music wafts in from the hallway. A dog yelps in the background.

Illustration by Jessica Hische

Wag is a new pet hotel in San Francisco that promises the ultimate in canine luxury. It has an atmospheric-filtration system that recycles the facility’s air 10 times per hour. Temperature-controlled rooms remain at a comfortable 69 degrees Fahrenheit. The suites ($85 a night) even have “Wag Cams,” accessible from an Internet browser, so that curious or concerned owners can check on their furry companions.

Tonight I’ve booked my dog, Ruby, into Wag. I scheduled her for an in-room belly massage ($12), a moonlit walk on the antibacterial Astroturf rooftop ($15), and room service (one pig’s ear and a bowl of water). This should be a great night—I’ll have the evening off from my dog-parenting duties, and Ruby will make new friends and be pampered by Wag’s experienced staff. Read the rest of this entry »

On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind–the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way. Woof! Meow! Squawk! Whinny! Talk!

When PM thinks of the environment we think about the relationship between humankind, animals, the environment. Humankind, we the people, exercise control over our environment like never before. As our control grows so do our choices. We can make things worse: or better. A good choice would be to spread the word about Blog Action Day. Another would be to share words of wisdom, a story, an image, or environmental resources in comments.

This event appears to have started on 24 September 2004! Cats, Dogs, Spiders and ? every Friday? Nah, does not add up. But! The author will post links to sites that have Friday photos of their chosen animals as he/she sees them(no photoshops and no humans).

Image from Dorling Kindersley

The bloggers gather on the banks Of the Chattahoochee. Yes, the Friday Ark sets sail once again, this time on its 160th voyage. Go check it out at the Modulator.

Older than us?

George Mackenzie Dunnet was a well-known Scottish ornithologist who passed away in 1995, aged 67. The photograph that accompanies his obituary shows a timeworn face, mostly bald head and grey locks clinging to temples. However, his sense of fun survives—literally.

Throughout his life George studied fulmars on Eynhallow in the Orkney Islands.He had his picture taken in 1951 holding a ringed fulmar when he was a young man and, by great coincidence, had it taken again 30 years later with the same bird. Personal vanity was brushed aside in his admiration for the fulmar’s unchanged looks.

Meanwhile, the bird lives on. It is a sobering thought that, when ringed, it was already a mature breeding adult making its true age a mystery.

Unlike humans, birds do not go grey or develop wrinkles. If their outward appearance does not change, how can we tell their age? In most cases ringing provides data on lifespan and longevity. Natural clues to the precise age of a bird are few and only serve to chart survival into adulthood—not beyond. Small birds replace distinctive juvenile plumage with that of an adult within months of being born. After this, their looks do not alter. Larger birds take several years to reach maturity during which time they grow progressively more adult-like feathers. Brown juvenile gannets acquire white plumage resembling their parents’ through a series of moults over a five-year period. Read the rest of this entry »

Eco-friendly pet toys and accessories…

Get green! Make a statement! For you and your pet!

“I think people should be more aware and not just assume everything is safe,” says Chicago veterinarian Julie Mayer. “They should be skeptical and critics of products out there.

“We need to read the labels. We have to educate ourselves, because no one is going to help us out, unfortunately.”

Here, then, are a few ways you and your dog and cat can live greener lives, and some problems to watch out for.

Wipe and paws

Wash their feet after they come in. What the dogs pick up from outside—animal and human waste, traces of pollution and car exhaust, etc.—can find its way into their systems as they groom themselves. Anything you can do to keep them clean is beneficial. Read the rest of this entry »

Today 21.7 million pounds of hamburger were recalled by Topps Meat Co. Fortunately, it was people food.

A concern was the swiftness of the USDA to conclude that a recall was necessary. 18 days. Our USDA looks highly competent to monitor people food, pet food, and also let’s include painted toys. Expect class action suits for Walmart, Pathmark, ShopRite, and Rastelli Fine Foods.

It was determined that one of the first victims was a Florida teenager. According to the teenager’s mother, she consumed a patty that was “pink” on the inside: cooking meat until the juices run clear will kill harmful bacteria.

While the skillet is hot, not in all cases, now is a good time to bring up raw vs cooked food again. Below is a very detailed study of bacteria, raw diets, dogs and cats.

Here is a summary statement:

1) Feeding raw diets to cats and dogs is becoming increasingly popular. 2) There is an inherent risk of bacterial contamination of raw meat for human or animal consumption. 3) There are unsubstantiated benefits used to support the feeding of raw diets. 4) There are unsubstantiated claims that bacterial pathogens that may be found in raw foods are not able to cause disease in dogs. 5) There are potential risks of feeding raw diets for people handling the food, people handling feces from animals fed raw diets, people handling food bowls, and animals exposed to animals that are fed raw diets.

Get a beverage of choice, get comfortable, and read a scientific study and conclusion: Read the rest of this entry »

Scientists amazed at fish tag journey.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)—In 2005, a 2.9-inch steelhead left a Washington state hatchery in 2005 with a tiny implanted electronic tag. Read the rest of this entry »