Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “humor”
A pet dog left savaged by thugs is learning to walk again with three false legs after a groundbreaking operation.
Glory, a four-year-old cross-breed, needed a triple amputation following an attack in its native Romania.
Proud owner Vanessa Bamkin, from Carlisle, Cumbria, adopted Glory after learning of her plight on an animal charity website.
For many of us our pets are not just companion animals but bona fide members of our family, whose wellbeing we regard as a top priority. That’s why the notion that a beloved animal can be suffering from chronic pain, without the ability to tell us what’s wrong, is so disturbing. The reality is that dogs, cats and other pets suffer greatly from pain – whether it’s pain associated with injury, surgery or illness — and identifying and treating the pain is key to their quality of life.
Identifying Pain
Pain behaviors are different in every species, and can be specific to each individual. Additionally, dogs and cats go to great lengths to hide their pain as part of their evolutionary past — when demonstrating that they were in pain could make them vulnerable to attack from other animals. People expect animals to cry or vocalize when in pain, but they usually only do this with severe acute pain, like breaking a bone. Pets are generally quiet and stoic when in pain.
In order to diagnose pain in patients who cannot “tell” us what they’re feeling, today’s veterinary specialists have to resort to indirect methods of pain assessment. These methods rely on noting changes in functional movements (i.e. “my dog can’t jump on the bed anymore”). And sometimes we have to assume pain is present when we diagnose a disease and treat for the expected level of pain.
Scratching and sniffing from seat to seat, the lonely pooch scours a bus in the desperate yet futile hope of picking up his missing master’s scent.
But his master never comes.
In a heart-breaking refusal to face the inevitable truth that he has almost certainly been abandoned, the loyal mongrel has returned to the same bus stop, in Chengdu, southwest China, every day for the past 15.
Heart-breaking: Huang Huang has returned to the same bus stop, in Chengdu, southwest China, every day for the last two weeks and repeats the same tragic routine
A couple says their dog sniffed out a baby abuser in their home, the woman who was supposed to be caring for their seven month old son.
The babysitter, 22-year-old Alexis Khan pleaded guilty to assault and battery Monday afternoon in Charleston County Circuit Court.
Benjamin and Hope Jordan hired Khan to babysit their son Finn last year after they moved to Charleston. They say Khan came up clean in a background check.
“We felt like Alexis was a good fit at the time,” said Benjamin Jordan.
However their confidence in Khan didn’t last too long.
“About five months into her being our baby sitter, we started to notice that our dog was very protective of our son when she would come in the door,” Jordan said. “He was very aggressive towards her and a few times we actually had to physically restrain our dog from going towards her.’
The now suspicious parents had a plan.
Warning: This post is going to make you cry.
This week, comedian Sarah Silverman had to put down her beloved dog, Duck. She set aside her usual snarkiness and penned a heartbreaking tribute to her friend on her WhoSay page.
Silverman described finding Duck, who she guesses was about 19 when he passed, in a no-kill shelter. Near the end of their 14-year friendship, Duck’s health took a turn for the worse.
“He was a happy dog, though serene. And stoic. And he loved love,” she wrote. “Over the past few years he became blind, deaf, and arthritic. But with a great vet, good meds, and a first rate seeing-eye person named me, he truly seemed comfortable.
“Recently, however, he stopped eating or drinking. He was skin and bones and so weak. I couldn’t figure out this hunger strike. Duck had never been political before. And then, over the weekend, I knew. It was time to let him go,” she wrote.
Silverman made the difficult decision to put Duck to sleep.
“I held him close – in our usual spoon position and stroked him,” she wrote. “I told him how loved he was, and thanked him for giving me such happiness and for his unwavering companionship and love…I held him and kissed him and whispered to him well passed his passing.”
In closing, she wrote,
“14 years.
My longest relationship.
My only experience of maternal love.
My constant companion.
My best friend.
Duck.”
If you have known the love of an animal, you are probably a little choked up right now. But Silverman’s beautiful tribute isn’t the only instance of a celebrity pouring their heart out over the loss of a pet.
Virbac has issued a voluntary recall for six lots of their heartworm preventive, Iverhart Plus Flavored Chewables, due to a failure to meet stability specifications during the life of the product.
The following lots have been included in the recall:
According to a Virbac letter obtained by petMD, the recalled lots met all of the specifications at the time of their release to distributors, but further product testing showed that the ivermectin potency failed to meet stability specifications during the life of the product.
Tails are wagging in Washington this week.
Not only did the Obama family introduce Sunny the puppy to her adoring country, but the White House also came out against breed-specific legislation — regulations and laws that restrict ownership of dogs by breed, pit bulls being the most common target.
Groups like the American Bar Association have said for years that these sorts of restrictions do harm — to families, to dogs, to due process and to the economy — without actually improving public safety.
The boy’s mother, Monica Alboniga, brought the pair to Nob Hill Elementary in Sunrise.
“I’m very nervous because it’s the first day and I don’t know when I’m going to the school what will happen. I am waiting,” she said.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – August 14, 2013 – The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) has voluntarily recalled specific lots of dry pet food because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. These lots were distributed in the United States and represent roughly one-tenth of one percent (0.1%) of annual production. NoSalmonella-related illnesses have been reported to date in association with these product lots.
Salmonella can affect animals eating the products and there is risk to humans from handling contaminated pet products, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with the products or any surfaces exposed to these products.
Healthy people infected with Salmonella should monitor themselves for some or all of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping and fever. Rarely, Salmonella can result in more serious ailments, including arterial infections, endocarditis, arthritis, muscle pain, eye irritation, and urinary tract symptoms. Consumers exhibiting these signs after having contact with this product should contact their healthcare providers.
Pets with Salmonella infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. Some pets will have only decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain. Infected but otherwise healthy pets can be carriers and infect other animals or humans. If your pet has consumed the recalled product and has these symptoms, please contact your veterinarian.
Dogs yawn often when they see a person yawning, and are more responsive towards their owner’s yawns than to a stranger’s, a research has suggested.
In the study by Teresa Romero and colleagues from the University of Tokyo, pet dogs watched their owner or a stranger yawn, or mimic a yawning mouth movement, but yawned significantly more in response to their owners’ actions than to the strangers’ yawns.
The dogs also responded less frequently to the fake movements, suggesting they have the ability to yawn contagiously.