Veterinary Wisdom® Café

Service dog to SURFice dog

A friend forwarded this video to me a couple weeks ago. It is a touching story about a dog who was born to be trained as a service dog. Turned out that Ricochet wasn't the right temperament for service dog training. She would get distracted too easily, and that can be  unsafe for the human she is helping.

So, her owner decided to see if she could surf! And she took to it! Now she is helping by doing fundraisers for people by surfing!

Take a look at her story. The video is worth watching all the way through! A very touching story!

--Tammy

Den cam

We all heard about the live puppy cam last year where you could tune in and watch the litter of Shiba Inu pups live. (They are back by the way - the mama has another litter and you can watch these guys live too!)

Well, I read about another type of live cam, and I definitely wanted to share this with you! The North American Bear Center in Ely, Minnesota has installed a camera in a bear den! This mother bear, Lily, had her single cub, live on camera, on January 22nd. She is now snug in her den with her cub. You can tune in and see what's happening with the pair anytime. (I just tuned in as I was writing this post. There isn't much going on - but you can actually see Lily breathing. Even that is kind of amazing!)

The site with the live camera feed is quite amazing. Each day, there is an update post about what's happening in and around the den. There is a lot of educational information about bears, and what you might expect to see or hear while watching Lily. (the image is of Lily in her den, from the bear.org website.)

I'm quite amazed by technology sometimes. I make my living working with technology (bringing you this blog, and our websites. I live at a distance from the World by the Tail headquarters {Oregon for me, Colorado for them}. Without our amazing technology this wouldn't be possible!) I love that we can use things like web cams to learn about the habits of bears! Or Shiba Inus! :)

Enjoy watching Lily, or the puppy litter (who are more active than the bears just now!)

--Tammy

Rare Sumatran tigers on tape

This video is SO cool, I had to share it!

Discovery Networks posted this video. They have set up video "traps" to try and capture images of these rare cats in Sumatra. These tigers are very endangered - there are probably only about 400 in the wild. This footage is the first they have received from these camera traps. These cats are a mother and her cubs. They find the camera trap and investigate (some very cute close-ups ensue.)

These big cats are being poached for the black market, so they are in critical danger of dying off. It is so great to see the work being done to help them keep from this fate!

Check out the size of the paws on the cubs! It's amazing. What beautiful animals these are! World by the Tail actually has a ClayPaws® print in the office of a tiger. It's about 3 times the size of a "normal" dog print!

Enjoy this video!

--Tammy

Bird cares for kitten

I can't even remember where I found this video initially! But, I have to share it with you! It seems I am enamored of inter-species relationships in pets. Give me a mama kitty feeding a pup, or a bassett hound befriending a turtle, and I'm happy! Today, it is a bird taking care of a kitten! Too cute!

--Tammy

Happy Holidays!

We will be taking a blogging break for the Christmas holiday! We will leave you with this cute holiday video to enjoy! We'll be back on Monday (12/28) with new posts! Enjoy your holiday, however you celebrate!

--Dana, Laurel, and Tammy

Oprah and Bo

Bo Obama may very well be the most famous dog around! He was on the Oprah Winfrey special about Christmas at the White House recently. He behaved himself very well, and gave high-fives all around! Enjoy this video of Oprah meeting Bo!

--Tammy

Cuteness personified!

By now, you may have already seen this amazingly cute YouTube sensation. I thought it worth sharing anyway!

This tiny kitten is so funny! I've watched this video any number of times and it makes me smile and laugh every time! Enjoy!

--Tammy

Travel Friday

As we speak, I am winging my way to Colorado for a visit. I'll be working in the office next week and I'm very excited to see everyone at World by the Tail! Since I'm travelling today, I thought I'd share something fun with you!

Since we moved to Oregon, my husband and I don't have TV access. Long story short, the options are limited, and we decided not to go for the very expensive cable option. We haven't missed having TV very often (I miss the Food Network, but I'm finding I CAN live without it!) Now and then, we catch shows online that we enjoy. One of them is the Daily Show. We happened to catch an episode that featured Jane Goodall. I thought I'd share the video clip here. She is an amazing person, and so interesting to hear about her life and her work. Enjoy!

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Jane Goodall
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

--Tammy

Sneezes can be scary!

I happened across this video recently, and had to share! It is just too cute! Enjoy!

 --Tammy

Cat nurses chihuahua

I just love these stories! Amazing tales of animals helping other animals - even when they are different species.

Halo Animal Rescue, of Phoenix, AZ, called animal control for help. They had a bitty chihuahua pup who had lost its mom right after being born. The pup needed to nurse. The rescue workers called animal control to see if they had any nursing moms who might be able to help.

Animal control had one mom. It happened to be a black cat. They tried it out, and lo and behold, the pup and the mommy cat are doing great! What a save! Watch this cute video of the story!

--Tammy

Happy Halloween!

Since tomorrow is Halloween, I thought I'd share a fun little video that a friend sent me! (I am in NO WAY promoting giving chocolate to dogs - just sharing a goofy, fun video!) :)

Have a safe, and happy, Halloween!

--Tammy

A monkey and a hound dog

You know, I love these stories of unlikely friendships between animals! When I saw this story over at Jan's Poodle and Dog blog, I knew I had to share it with you! (Thanks Jan! And my "old" school friend, Bobbie, who also emailed me this story!)

Surya, the orangutan, and Roscoe, the hound dog, make up some unlikely friends. Surya lives at the Myrtle Beach Safari, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. When she encountered the sad, abandoned hound dog, it was instantaneous friendship. The monkey and the dog acted like long-lost friends. Roscoe followed Surya home and was allowed to come in and stay!

The two spend a lot of time together, playing and "hanging out". They particularly like swimming together!

You can learn more about Surya and Roscoe by watching the video clip from National Geographic below. Learn how they met, and more about their friendship.

It's so cool to see these very unlikely animals having such a great friendship. I think we can learn from Surya and Roscoe. Just because we are different, doesn't mean we can't all get along and be friends! Can't we all just get along? :)

--Tammy

Fishing Cats

It's Friday! And it happens to be my birthday :) So, in honor of those facts, I am sharing cute with you today!

In Cincinatti, there are some new residents at the zoo. They are called fishing cats. They are from Thailand and the zoo is working with other institutions to study these felines. (more information at www.fishingcatproject.info) Fishing cats are just that - they fish. They swim and catch fish and frogs for food. These cats have even developed some webbing on their toes to adapt for their swimming!

At the Cincinatti zoo, there are three kittens who were born at the end of June. There are approximately 50 fishing cats in zoos in the US. The Cincinatti zoo has been involved in helping Thai researchers working with fishing cats in the wild as well.

Enjoy watching the video of these crazy-cute cats!

--Tammy

Is Titan the tallest dog?

On August 7, the world's tallest dog record holder passed away from bone cancer. Gibson was a harlequin great dane, and he stood 42.2 inches tall and weighed 180 pounds. In early 2009, Gibson had a front leg amputated because of the bone cancer, but he lost the battle just a month ago. Gibson was 7 years old.

It seems there is a new dog with the title of tallest dog though. His name is Titan (fitting). He belongs to Diana Taylor and they live in San Diego. He has been (unofficially) measured as standing 42.375 inches tall. His official measurement *just* beat Gibson's though! He does now hold the record at 42.25 inches tall. (He weighs 190 pounds!)

Titan is also a special needs dog. His owner hopes to help raise awareness of these animals. Titan is both deaf and blind. He also has epilepsy and spinal issues. But, Diana loves him in spite, or perhaps because of, his issues. She says that Titan is a very peaceful dog and people can notice that about him.

Do any of you have special needs pets? How do you deal with their needs?

--Tammy

Happy birthday, Samudra!

At the Oregon Zoo on August 23rd there was a birthday celebration of elephantine proportions! Samudra, the baby elephant, turned 1! The zoo celebrated in style!

Sam is a 1300 pound Asian elephant. Visitors came out in the thousands to help the zoo celebrate Sam's birthday. Volunteers at the zoo made a "cake" out of ice for Samudra. He impressed visitors by 100% enjoying this cake. He literally dove in and played in the ice cake! (See the video below!)

Not only did Sam get an ice cake to play in, he also got a cake of a mix of wheat, peanut butter, sweet potatoes, and a carrot "candle". He enjoyed this "cake" too - and ate a bit of it, but spread more around than made it into his mouth!

It was fun seeing the zoo celebrate one of their animals in these fun ways! How about you? Do you celebrate pet birthdays in your home? What do you do for your dog, cat, guinea pig, fish, etc. for their birthday? I will admit - we don't celebrate pet birthdays here. Maybe we should!

--Tammy

Some Holiday Fun!

A little holiday YouTube fun for you! Enjoy your holidays! See you next week! :)

Chickens are Peacekeepers!

I don't often find things to post about farm animals, but this video is pretty cute! I lived on a farm for about 10 years (it wasn't my farm - I rented an apartment. I got the benefit of living there, but didn't have to do the work! I loved the pygmy goats in particular! I would much prefer to hear the goaties again instead of our neighbor's dogs!) Who knew that chickens could be bouncers?