The Animals Need More than Just Love at Times

Pets are lovable, there's no doubt about it. The reason why most people decide to adopt animals is the simple fact that they are the best companions one can have. Apart from sheer loyalty to the adopter, pets act as great stress busters. While people revel in the love they get from their pets, questions are there how much of the love is reciprocated back. Pets are responsibilities for the adopters who must make sure that their pets are in the pink of health and active as well. While the pets act as good stress busters, it is the human kind's responsibility to relive the pets from their stresses.

Regular checkups are musts for animals to live ailment free. Even if the animals do not show any palpable sign of ailment, one can never be too cautious. Some ailments in pets stay latent till the stage when they become life threatening. Proper and early diagnosis of these diseases is a must to ensure that the animals do not go through that treacherous fate. At Least in the matter of few months, animals must be taken for diagnosis and health checkups at the animal hospitals in the vicinity. The government hospitals in many countries offer consultation and checkups for animals at subsidised costs.

It is obvious from the death rate comparison among animals in different countries that some countries are better equipped to tackle animal ailments than the others. Canada, for example, is a trendsetter in veterinary science. Animal hospitals in Burlington are well known for their expertise in the field of vet medicine and operations. People refer to these facilities when their pets are suffering from life threatening diseases or ailment that needs emergency attention. Housing some of the best vet surgeons, the animal hospitals in Burlington are the point of reference for worried pet owners.

It goes beyond saying that veterinary science has evolved quite a lot in the last few decades. A number of ailments can be effectively avoided with remedies like simple vaccinations- something the yesteryears vet science was not equipped with. Effective diagnosis has also played an important part in felling the death rate of animals sharply in developing countries. The one aspect of vet science that still needs advancement is the one of emergency surgeries. Government entities involved with animal welfare invest heavily on new researches and development in veterinary science to usher in a brighter future for the animals in distress.

Why Do Cats Purr?

One important thing we do know about purring, however, is that it can be a highly beneficial act for the cat itself. Purring is thought to be very soothing and de-stressing for cats (and conveniently is the same for us feeble humans). This explains why cats purr when they are unhappy or nervous: It's a mechanism to help calm themselves and retain their cat-like composure. Purring also has numerous physical benefits, including tissue-regeneration. That's right: Purring can actually help a cat heal.



The low frequency of a purr (about 26 Hertz on average for a domestic cat) has the same muscular and bone-strengthening benefits as high-impact exercise on humans. That probably explains why they can jump from the highest bookshelf in your living room and not feel a thing.

Purring also has the benefit of releasing endorphins, a chemical that helps in pain management and overall happiness. Many cats will purr when pregnant in order to ease the aches. When the kittens are born, the purring continues as a necessary form of communication. As cats are born blind, a mother's purr is necessary in order for the newborns to find and communicate with her. Newborn kittens pick up on the technique when they are just a few days old.

Of course, the most important thing in decoding any purr is context. As it is a form of communication, it is up to us cat-lovers to discern exactly what our feline friends are trying to say. Whether they are hungry, scared, or just happy to see us — there are usually clues to indicate, and it's our job to be attuned to those clues (in order to best serve our kitten overlords, of course).

Britain's cleverest cats!

Carol Hack, 54, runs a scuba-diving centre and lives with her husband Dave, a 57-year-old scientist, in Middleton, Cumbria. She says:

Within a few weeks of getting Pinky as a kitten two years ago, I knew she was special. I’ve had Somali cats (a long-haired breed) for 15 years — I owned eight at one time but now I’m down to six — and she’s by far the most intelligent.

For one thing, she can open zips. I have a zipped washbag where I keep cotton buds, which Pinky loves to play with. Sure enough, she learned to open it. At first she could only do it when I’d left the zip slightly open — she’d put her nose in the hole and push the zipper along. But then she started biting the zipper and pulling it along. She’s incredible.

We first learned about her clever ways one night when I heard a crinkling sound in the kitchen. I investigated and found Pinky wolfing down a packet of cat treats.

I was confused — the packet had been in a biscuit barrel on a high shelf — but figured I must have left the top off accidentally. But after it had happened a few times I kept an eye out and saw Pinky, who’s small but incredibly athletic, leaping onto the rubbish bin and bouncing off it to get on to the shelf, which is about 5ft high. From there she nudged the lid off with her nose before tucking into the spoils.



We got a new container, with a seal around the neck which makes it hard to get open. She simply pushed it over and hit it against the wall with her nose and paws until the top popped off.

She’s the smartest cat I’ve ever known. I did some of the IQ tests from E.M. Bard’s book with her — such as covering her food to see if she could find it — and she passed with flying colours. Other than that, like all Somalis, she’s very vocal and loves to follow you round, but she’s also very affectionate and loves tummy rubs.

Dallas dog loyally stands by stray friend killed by car

A photo of one dog standing guard over another which was hit by a car on a roadside in south-west Dallas has warmed hearts across the US.

The dog, a Great Pyrenees, stood by his friend near the Dallas-Fort Worth national cemetery until volunteers rushed to rescue him, after a photo of the two surfaced on Facebook. Posted by Samuel Flores, the photo showed the dog standing over his friend, who was hit by a car and killed.

“He was just kind of sitting guard, like a statue, just sitting there watching over his friend’s body,” animal advocate Julie Fennell told a local NBC affiliate.

“It really looks like she was hit in the road, you can see the blood in the road, and it looks like he [dragged] her up on to the grass out of the road.”

Volunteers could not determine the dog’s history, or why he was dedicated to protecting the other dog, but said he was very calm and loving when rescued.

“He made a friend,” Fennell said. “Whether it was his companion in his yard at home or whether they met up as strays, but something made him stay by her side.”

The Great Pyrenees was taken to Dallas animal services. If no owners come forward, he will be released to SPIN Rescue, a group focused on the rescue of Great Pyrenees dogs.

Winter is coming...but these animals are ready

While some people might not be ready for that, the animals at the Potawatomi Zoo are more than ready.

"Just like us, they can go outside as long as they have a heated place to come back to," said Josh Sisk, the general curator at the zoo. "You can come to the zoo and see tigers, see lions, you can see them running through the snow. Even in the environments they come from, there are nights that get pretty chilly as well."

"When it gets cold and snowy, they will go outside sometimes," said zookeeper Gretchen Pitser. "They'll run out there in the mornings and make a couple of laps, but for the most part they'll stay inside. We only have to lock them up inside when it gets below 20 degrees."

Of course, not every animal necessarily needs to come inside, but every animal has the option.

Some of them are actually well suited for cold weather, but if they want, they can stay inside a nice heated barn.

"We have procedures set in place for each species," Sisk said. "Some animals may be have to have access [outdoors]. Some may be completely locked into a barn. It all depends on the species."

"These guys are not the smartest creatures you'll run across," said zookeeper Erink Brunk, nodding towards three ostriches. "But they do know that if it's cold, they go in where it's warmer."


That instinct, and the option to stay inside, makes it a bit easier for zookeepers to know if the animals should stay in, or if they should go out and stretch their legs for a bit.

Do animals recognise themselves in mirrors?

Admit it, you've probably tried showing your dog or cat a mirror, just to see what would happen. And chances are they either completely ignored it, or freaked out thinking it was another dog or cat to attack - or play with. There's no shortage ofadorable videos starring puppies versus mirrors, but the antics don't really explain whether an animal can actually recognise itself in the mirror.



At first the chimps treated their reflections as they would another chimp in a social setting. But within a few days, their behaviour changed. "They’d use the mirror to look at the inside of their mouths, to make faces at the mirror, to inspect their genitals, to remove mucous from the corner of their eyes," Galluptold Chelsea Wald at Nautilus.

In other words, the chimps appeared to have learnt to recognise their reflections. To be sure, Gallup tested this notion by going one step further - each animal was gently anesthetised and received some markings in the shape of red paint on one of their eyebrow ridges, and a tip of the ear. "It seemed pretty obvious that if I saw myself in a mirror with marks on my face, that I’d reach up and inspect those marks," said Gallup.

The removable red dye couldn't be smelled or felt by touch (the team actually tested this by painting their own faces first and waiting for 24 hours to see if they could feel it). Once returned to their mirrors, the chimps went on to do exactly what Gallup predicted - they inspected their new markings, even rubbing them with their hands and then checking their fingers to see if whatever had been painted on them was coming off.