Pets and Thunderstorms!

This article came out today in Ascribe USA, you are welcome to access it at Owners Can Help Pets Overcome Fear of Thunderstorms Heeks is terrified of Thunderstorms and fireworks. She gets terribly upset on the fourth of July. I will take this person's advise into consideration with her. Hibbs is not as effected by the noise. He is not as jittery as Heeks. Heeks has always been a nervous dog or high strung if you like. I just thought this article may be an interesting read for some people.

Donna

Someone stole Grandma's Birds

I found this story in the News Shopper in England. Gran devastated by theft of beloved pets This Grandmother had her precious pet Lovebirds stolen right off her front porch. People's pets are usually very important to them and to steal them is pretty low. If you want pets of your own it is pretty easy to get them. There are many resources, especially on the internet, where people offering pets for free because they can no longer keep them and there are shelters all over the place with pets looking for new homes. What do you think?

Donna

Wild Animals as Pets.

I heard a story recently on the news about a couple who had a chimpanzee for a pet for a long time. The husband was recently severely hurt by some Chimpanzees in an Animal Santuary. The couple made the chimp they named Moe a member of their family. The woman was unable to have children so the Moe became like their child. They had the Moe living with them for about thirty years. The husband found the Moe as an infant in Africa after his mother had been killed by poachers. The couple became very attached to Moe and he to them over the years.
The thing is that as Chimpanzees get older they can change in demeanor. That is what happened to Moe. He got in trouble in his hometown by biting a police officer and then a woman. The county ended up removing Moe from the couples custody and he eventually ended up in the Animal Santuary near the couple after three years of court battles. What a blow for the couple and for Moe. The couple tried to make the best of it by visiting Moe when they could and this was good for Moe as well.
The couple visited Moe on his birthday and brought him treats and presents to celebrate. Apparently some Chimps in another cage escaped from their cages, didn't like Moe getting this kind of attention and attacked the couple. The woman was attacked briefly and lost her finger. The husband was severly hurt by two large male Chimps and is still in the hospital. The article located at ABC.com gives all the specifics of what happened from that point on. To access the article: http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/Science/story?id=691497&page=1
At the time, nearly forty years ago, when the husband adopted and brought home the Chimp there were few laws regarding wild animals as pets. Now the laws are much more strict on the subject. The reason I am writing about this is to bring attention to this issue. I think we can become just as attached to wild animals as domestic animals but wild animals are much more unpredictable. Moe was not the one who hurt his "parents" but because he hurt other people he ended up losing the only home he had ever known. The couple who adopted him suffered a severe loss as well. The attachment went very deep between them and to this day Moe does not understand what happened and is depressed in the Animal Santuary. The wife is having a hard time dealing with her husbands devastating injuries and the whole situation is sad. In my opinion keeping a wild animal as a pet is something to be carefully considered. Caution is prudent before deciding on adopting and bringing a wild animal into your home. What do think?

Donna

Dog barking echoes!!!!!!!

Ah, yes! It is finally Spring and in my area of New England it has been in the seventies. Tomorrow eighties are expected. That means it is the time of year when I can have the windows open. Spring and fall are usually when I have the windows open because in the winter we need to close them for warmth and in the summer we have an air conditioner on.

Hibbs and Heeks love to have the windows open because they can hear everything outside and see everyone walking by. There are quite a few people who walk in our neighborhood. This leads to excessive barking. Both of these dogs are poodle mixes I feel this is common behavior for them. I have to be at them to stop quite often. Heeks is particularly barky and she instigates Hibbs into barking by calling him to the window when someone is coming. Our window are close to the floor so our small dogs can see out and look down both sides of the street. During the day it is not to bad, most of our neighbors know us and have told me they don't mind the dogs. Thank goodness!

Where the windows are open when they bark it echoes through the neighborhood. So it is now time of the dog barking echoes!!! Do you have dog barking echoes in your neighborhood?

That's all for now! Donna

Fun petsite webpage

This website has some games and virtual pet games to pass some time with. There is a lot of interesting pet information on this site as well. It is called Chazhound.com. Not only do they have fun things to do they offer free stuff and you will find after exploring the site that they also offer some valuable information on pet care and more. This site is worth a visit especially if you have a dog. To visit Chazhound.com go to http://www.chazhound.com/pet_games.html I have sent you to the fun and games page, you can explore the rest of the website from there....

Have fun!!!!!!! Donna

Pet snake story!

Stricknine, the unfortunate Boa Constrictor.

Stricknine was the name of a Boa Constrictor my husband owned
when we were dating many many moons ago. Bob took the snake
out with him often in those days. He would wrap him around his
neck and take Stricknine for a walk. Stricknine was about four feet
long so there was no danger of him hurting Bob or anyone else really.
I had never had any experiences with snakes and I was nervous at
first. It did not take me long to be comfortable handling Stricknine
and I enjoyed petting him. I thought he would be slimy but he was
not, actually he was smooth. The snake seemed to like being held.

Boa Constrictors will only eat live food. Bob had to buy mice for
him to eat. Stricknine's home was a ten gallon fish tank. Bob
would throw the mouse in the tank and Stricknine would attack
it and swallow it whole. You could watch the whole process through
the glass. It took some time until eventually all you saw was a bulge
in the snake. Stricknine only needed to be fed every couple of weeks.

Another thing that would happen was that he would shed his skin. It
was strange to see that also because the skin came off nearly whole.
That is what Boa Constrictors do.

Stricknine was not covered in his tank and one day somehow he got
out of the tank. Bob lived in an apartment in a house with about four apartments. Bob looked everywhere for Stricknine and did not find
him. Bob was bummed out when he lost the Stricknine.

Four months later another tenant was down in the basement of the building for some reason and spotted Stricknine. This tenant called
the police who called the fire department. While they were all down
in the basement concerned about how they would handle the situation another neighbor of Bob's Betty came by. Betty knew Stricknine so
she told the police and firemen that she knew the snake and that she would return him to his owner. When Bob got home from work that
day she gave him back to Bob.

It was obvious that Stricknine had not fended for himself very well
during his absence. He was very dry and listless. Bob put him in the bathtub and put damp clothes on him. The next step was to try to get
him to eat so Bob put a mouse in the tub with him. Well poor Stricknine did not have the strength to eat and the mouse ended up chewing on
the snakes tail. Not long after that Stricknine died.

The reason I tell this story is to point out that you have to be careful
when keeping this type of pet. You must make sure that they are
secure in their habitat. Stricknine was used to being fed in captivity
and and did not fair well caring for himself. If you are thinking of
getting a pet Boa Constrictor keep in mind that they can get loose.
If your pet does get loose not only could the circumstances be dire for your pet but it could also cause fear to people who do not know that
your pet wouldn't hurt them.


If you have a pet snake or reptile or are thinking of getting one and
you are considering shopping online here are a few places you can
visit that offer supplies for your kind of pet. Worldwidesnakes is a
place that specializes in snakes so they have a large selection of
items you may need or want for your pet. You will also find reptile supplies at Petswarehouse. If you choose to explore Jefferspet you
will find supplies of many other kinds of pets that aren't reptiles.

Pets can bring happiness!

If you have a pet I am sure you already know that pets can bring happiness into your life. Pets provide companionship and love to us. They also provide comfort to people. This has been proven in many different ways including scientifically. There are some wonderful places that bring pets together with people to provide joy and comfort with this happy exchange of companionship. Many of these pet visits are to nursing home where the residents can interact with the pets, which are usually dogs. The encounter benefits the dog as well as the person.

Where I am from the Boston area I found this website called Canine Companions at http://www.caringcanines.org/index.html that arranges these activities. The website provides a schedule of where these visits take place in the Boston area. You will also find listings of websites to locate such organizations across the United States. To discover more about this terrific service visit the link above. Pets can indeed provide happiness!

Donna