Feb. 22/2017

Feature:
8 of the World’s Most Pet-Friendly Countries

“...France
France is a nation of dog lovers...Many shops have a resident dog snoozing by the counter...& dogs are also welcome in those picturesque cafés, bars, shops, & even some markets.

Australia
Aussies have lots of beautiful beaches & parks where dogs are welcome...Dogs are allowed to ride on public transportation... &... has strict animal-import laws...

Great Britain
The U.K. has a reputation as a nation of animal lovers, & you’re allowed to take pets to many places, including gardens, parks, & even some museums. Pets are allowed on the London Underground free of charge...

Austria
This central European country...is... a leader in stopping animal cruelty. Included in this movement is a ban on selling cats & dogs at pet stores in an effort to curb puppy mills. There are also guidelines against training methods that use force in Austria.

Hungary
This European nation also wants to protect its animals...there are even rules in place to ensure dogs get a minimum required amount of exercise each day, that they’re microchipped & that they have frequent medical checkups. In addition, these family members are welcome outdoors at restaurants & cafés.

The Netherlands
The Netherlands is another place where it’s common to take your pet along with you to restaurants, cafés, & shops. Your dog can come along when you travel by train, & the country has laws to prevent people with criminal records from owning a dog...

Canada
...many shops in its dog-loving cities & towns leave water bowls & treats outside their doors, & lots of luxury spas for dogs & full-service day cares have opened in recent years. Some cities have large dog parks to offer, & some allow canines to ride on public transportation during certain hours.

Switzerland
The Swiss... require a test where new owners have to show their pet-owning aptitude. All owners are required to have pet health insurance, & there are rules in place to prevent cruelty to dogs in their training... Swiss airlines often allow small dogs in the cabin, & many restaurants not only allow dogs to join their human patrons, but they’ll also make them their own doggie plate.”

Amy Sinatra Ayres (Vetstreet.com)
November 21/2016
care2.com

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Weekly Chuckle

Feb. 15/2017

Feature:
Meet The Dogs Sniffing Out Unwell Trees

“Mira’s nose is so sensitive that she can smell sick citrus trees, & U.S. orange growers are hoping her super sniffer will help combat one of the biggest threats ever to their crop.

The government has trained 10 dogs including Mira- a 32 month old German shepherd-Belgian Malinois mix- to identify a bacteria that has been killing citrus trees for a decade in Florida...Similar to canine teams that sniff out bombs, drugs, & even bed bugs, this one is on the hunt for a disease known as citrus greening...

...Dogs, with 50 times more scent receptors in their noses than humans, sense chemicals that trees emit when infected. They’re accurate 99.7% of the time...

‘They’re pretty much the forefront of early detection for us right now,’ said Yindra Dixon, a public affairs specialist for the Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service...

‘Tests show the wet noses of the dogs are more accurate than DNA sampling techniques...The animals also have detected the disease in trees that didn’t show symptoms until days or weeks later...

Once trained, Mira & the other dogs have shown they are both eager & accurate, said Jerry Bishop, the training director at Coast to Coast K9 Teams, the company working with the USDA to co-ordinate grove inspections by the animals.

‘As soon as she comes out of the kennel, she likes to chest bump you,’ Bishop said of Mira. ‘She’s like, ‘Let’s go to work. I’m ready’...”

Melissa Mittelman
Bloomberg News
in The Montreal Gazette
March 5/2016

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Weekly Chuckle

Feb. 8/2017

Feature:
Polydactyl Cats: The Felines With Extra Toes

 “Regular cats have 5 toes on their front feet & 4 on their back, for a total of 18. But polydactyl... cats boast more toes, usually on their front feet.

...the Greek root poly means ‘many’ & daktylos means ‘digits or toes’. The record holder for most toes was a kitty named Jake, who had a whopping 28.

American writer Ernest Hemingway was a lover of polydactyl cats. He was given his first polydactyl cat, a white 6-toed feline named Snowball, by a ship’s captain; today, nearly 50 of Snowball’s descendants still live at the Hemingway Home in Key West.  Polydactyl cats are known by many names, including ‘Hemingway cats’,...'mitten cats’, ‘big-foot cats’ & ‘6-toed cats’ — or even ‘cats with thumbs’.

Interesting Facts
    The first scientific record of polydactyls is from 1868. They were mostly found in the northeastern United States & Nova Scotia. One theory is that the first mitten kittens were brought to America by English Puritans in the 1600s.

    President Theodore Roosevelt’s poly kitty Slippers was one of the first cats to purr around the White House.

    Polydactyl cats often found their way onto boats because sailors believed they were good luck. They were widely recognized as top-notch mousers, & their extra toes were rumored to give them better balance while sailing the high seas.

Common Questions
New York veterinarian Dr. Arnold Plotnick of Manhattan Cat Specialists tells us a little more about polydactyl cats...

Some cats have extra toes because they inherit a gene that codes for polydactylism. If one parent is polydactyl & one parent has normal feet, then 40-50% of the kittens will also be polydactyl...

Most polydactyl cats have extra toes that look like the other toes — there are just more of them. Thumb cat polydactyly is a condition where the first digit, or the dewclaw, is so large that it resembles a thumb...

...there’s no certain breed of cat that is more or less prone to being polydactyl. However, in the past, the original Maine Coon cats had a high incidence of polydactylism — about 40%...”

 Vetstreet Staff (Vetstreet.com)
April 21/2016
care2.com

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Weekly Chuckle

Feb. 1/2017

Feature:
Dolphins Recorded Chatting With Each Other Like Humans

“...picture 2 dolphins chatting away like humans. Well, according to one recent study, that’s not such a wild thing to imagine. Apparently, dolphins talk with each other in much the same way as humans, but instead of words, they use pulsed clicks to communicate.

The Telegraph reports that dolphins have been recorded having a conversation for the first time after scientists developed an underwater microphone that could distinguish the animals’ different ‘voices’.

We’ve known for some time that mammals such as dolphins have advanced communication skills involving various clicks & whistles. But what this new research shows is that dolphins actually form words by altering the volume & frequency of the sounds they make. And they string their “words” together to form — you guessed it — sentences. Like humans do.

The research took place at the Karadag Nature Reserve, in Feodosia, Ukraine...

...researchers recorded 2 Black Sea bottlenose dolphins, named Yasha & Yana, talking to each other in a pool.

They were able to distinguish the dolphins’ different ‘voices’. They also noticed that each dolphin would listen to a sentence of pulses without interruption, before replying...

...Lead researcher Dr. Vyacheslav Ryabov confirms, saying, ‘The analysis of numerous pulses registered in our experiments showed that the dolphins took turns in producing [sentences] & did not interrupt each other, which gives reason to believe that each of the dolphins listened to the other’s pulses before producing its own’...

This language exhibits all the design features present in the human spoken language, this indicates a high level of intelligence & consciousness in dolphins, & their language can be ostensibly considered a highly developed spoken language, akin to the human language...

We already know that dolphins & humans actually see the world in similar ways...”

Tex Dworkin
Sept. 17/ 2016
care2.com

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Weekly Chuckle

Memorial
Peanut
Gone way too soon.