Hibbs and Heeks Pet Center Blog offers commentary, articles, pet care tips, pet news and stories from other pet owners. You are encouraged to offer comments and stories of your pets for others to enjoy. We look forward to hearing from you.
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Pets and antifreeze.
New legislation regarding pets and antifreeze has been proposed. There is a short article about this issue at the Omahachannel.com , I had seen something about it on the news last week. I had not really thought about it much before hearing about the proposed legislation. My pets are not out wandering around by themselves. There are pets that are let out that could be effected by this hazard. I don't see how the proposed legislation would be a bad thing if it can save some pets lives. Apparently children are at risk as well. To find out more about this issue click the link above.
A couple of weeks ago there was a virus going around my neighborhood between the neighborhood dogs. First Heeks got it. She had severe diarrhea with gas. It lasted nearly a week. Her stools were passing like water before it got better. Just as she started to feel better Hibbs picked it up and had it for about the same time. I was advised to feed them nothing but rice and either chicken or hamburger until it passed which I did. It really helped to follow that advise. After talking to some of the other walkers in the neighborhood I found out that two of our neighborhood dogs that live together had the same virus. They had it before Heeks. One of them had it first and passed it to the other. As soon as I realized it was something being passed from one dog to the other I did not let Hibbs and Heeks go up to any of the other neighborhood dogs until they were better. Hibbs is now ten years old and I have never come across this before. I don’t know how this virus started but it definitely was passed from dog to dog so I thought I would tell you all about it. The rice and meat diet worked well to help them get through it. Donna
An article came out in the Atlanticville.gmnews.com regarding preparing for your pets in disasters. These suggestions were compiled by the Red Cross and the Humane Society. I found the suggestions to be very good. It is especially important right now in the southeastern part for the United States with another hurricane expected to hit in the next couple of days. You can click on the link above to find out more and you can do further research by going to the Red Cross and Humane Society's websites. Links to these websites can be found within the article. Hope you find this information helpful.
In Africa especially they have an abundance of land mines buried underground that maim or kill people on a daily basis. These mines are there due to many years of civil war. Children can’t even play in a field without the concern of possibly stepping on a land mine.
Dogs were used in the past until it was discovered that giant rats that are native to the region can be trained to do the job. I saw this on the Jane Goodall special on Animal planet called "When animals talk." The rats are very responsive to the training process with the lure of food as an incentive. It was amazing to watch them work with these rats. The rats rarely get harmed as they are so light they do not set off the mines. The rats let the trainers know where the mines are and after removing the rats the mines are exploded and the area is safe once again for the residents of that area.
It is painstaking work but well worth the effort. If you would like to learn more about this interesting topic I found and article on the National Geographic website that explains more about this phenomenal practice. Hope you find it interesting! The link to the article is: National Geographic article
Whoa, it has been a while since I have made an entry! The fourth of July was yesterday. During this holiday my pets are not to thrilled with the way it is celebrated. In my neighborhood it was Sunday night when the people that celebrate with fireworks did their thing. The fireworks that go up in the air and shoot color are nice to watch and somewhat loud. Heeks does not like any of the fireworks, not even firecrackers.
Hibbs seems to take it in stride. He doesn’t get upset, he might just bark once in a while whereas Heeks is terrified by the booms made by the fireworks. Someone in our neighborhood was setting off quarter sticks of dynamite this year. I don’t like those either. They make a very loud bang that gives me a start everytime. Heeks barks and shakes and is stuck to me like glue.
I think her excess fear originated a couple of years back when one of my neighbors purchased an extreme amount of fireworks and it took many hours to do. The majority of these fireworks were set off in front of our house and the cherry bombs were included. The police came by several times and watered down the fireworks they got one of my neighbors to bring out but other neighbors had stocked up as well so the noise continued through out the night. Heeks has reacted badly to fireworks since then.
Our cat Holly makes herself scarse during the hoopla and Hooey our parrot doesn’t seem to be concerned with the noise. Heeks seems to have the most difficulty dealing with the fourth of July celebrations. How do your pets react? We would love to hear from you!
My name is Donna. Hibbs and Heeks Pet Center blog is here for people like myself who are interested in pets. I will add commentary, links, pictures and more with pets as the focus. Hibbs and Heeks are real dogs, Tash and Totay are real kittens and Hooey is a real Amazon Parrot. Holly was also a frequent subject on this blog but she has since passed on. If you have any stories, comments or thoughts about pets please feel free to comment. I am sure that readers of this blog would enjoy hearing from you as I would myself.
