PetLvr.com - [The Blog]

SGR Sleeping Oberon towels dry after a bath.

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Dear Petlvr Mailbag …

Polybore’s cat is terrible at catching mice. It catches them in the garden then brings them into the house and lets them go, alive.

I want the cat to catch and kill mice in the house and garden. Not bring in mice from outside and release them in the house.

Signed,
polybore from the Polybore blog!

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“Should I get one rat, or two?”

That’s a question I hear asked very often, and, unlike most pet questions, it’s got an easy answer. Get two! Or, better yet, three, or as many rats as you have the time, space, and money to support! Rats are gregarious animals and need the company of their own kind in order to be happy. In fact, most good rat breeders require that babies be adopted in pairs.

In the wild, rats live in groups of hundreds. They are social animals that do not leave their colonies at adulthood, but simply expand their foraging radius and the size of their colony’s nesting area as the colony expands. Activities like play and social grooming help rats’ brains to develop. Studies have shown that social grooming is so important to rats that baby rats raised by a mother that does not lick and groom them grow up to be unfriendly and less intelligent than rats raised by a mother who is attentive.

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Marty, 137540

Marty is happy to be one of the first cats in the cat adoption condos at the new shelter! Marty has a bit of a surprising story…. Stray for 10 months, when he was finally found, his registered owner had moved out-of-province, so Marty returned to us to find a new home. This handsome, 11-month old male would love to make your acquaintance today!

Maddie, 149119

Maddie is a very sweet, 6 month-old Terrier/Lab mix was found stray in the Morris, MB. area. As a young dog, Maddie is slightly timid in new situations or with new people- we’re confident she’ll soon grow out of this once in a loving home. Maddie is expected to do well with other dogs & cats.

If you would like to adopt one of these pets, please contact:

Chantal Young
Adoption Coordinator
204.982.3558

The Winnipeg Humane Society
45 Hurst Way
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
R3T 0R3
Tel: 204.982.3558
Fax: 204.982.3550
Email: chantaly@humanesociety.mb.ca
www.winnipeghumanesociety.ca

Saving just one dog won’t change the world… but it surely will change the world for that one dog

WHS adoption fees for cats & dogs include a vet exam, vaccine, microchip, spay/neuter, ear tattoo, 6 weeks of pet insurance and more! Please visit us at our new shelter, 45 Hurst Way off Waverley Street. Our new hours are M-F 10am-8pm, Sat 10am-6pm and Sun 12-5:30pm. Cat or dog doesn’t fit your lifestyle? Ask us about adopting a rabbit, degu, guinea pig or other small caged pet.

By Scott McHenry

Anyone looking for a new pet wants a pet that is clean, socialized and well trained. Most people don’t know that these are all qualities of pet rats!

There are many misconceptions about rats. People think that rats are unclean and carry disease. In fact, rats are quite clean and groom themselves several times a day. These aren’t sewer rats we’re talking about. These pet rats, or fancy rats as they’re called, have been domesticated and bred in captivity for at least 150 years. Pet rats are quite tame after living with humans for so many generations and you’ll find that they are nothing like their stereotypes.

Rats are very intelligent animals. Some consider rats to have intelligence close or equal to that of dogs. Rats are capable of learning to come when their names are called. They can even be litter trained just as easily as training a cat.

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By Bob Cheney

Well, what is there about them you can say that is positive? How can anybody trust a creature that is born without arms or legs and smells with its tongue? Obviously, you can see I dislike snakes! For me, they just don’t seem a part of the natural order of things without the usual appendages. A friend of mine suggested that I write down some of my encounters with snakes I experienced when I was exploring the Amazon basin and the western slopes of the Andes looking for gold and I guess my first brush with mortality from serpents came about as Eddie and I were walking into Puerto Napo from camp one day. The trail bordered the Napo River on the south side and we were making pretty good time on the twelve-mile walk. The ground was slippery as it always was from the continual wetness of the vegetation and we were always in danger of losing our footing. Walking, as it were, consisted of articulating a series of slips and slides and occasional falls. Well, Eddie was in front of me when all of a sudden he fell backwards.

Thinking he tripped, I caught him under his shoulders and helped him to regain his footing, but he instantly fell backwards again and there right in front of him in the middle of the trail was a snake, half coiled and half erect and ready to strike! I had almost pushed Eddie into the snakes’ fangs! Close! Eddie shot the snake from a safe distance. We had other encounters with snakes on the eastern slopes, but most of them were on the west side of the Andes. The first occurred when I stooped over to enter a family dwelling in the village of La Concordia on the Cayapas River. We had been canoeing upriver all day and it was time to set up camp for the night. Our guide made arrangements for our accommodations to spend the night for a few cans of Tuna Fish and a pound of coffee. Barter was the preferred method of payment once you were out of civilization. We walked into the house made of Bamboo and a hardwood called “Chonta Duro”. I have never been able to translate it into English except for the “Duro” part, which means “Hard”. A log of this wood has a very fibrous core that can be burned out to form a pipe of sorts. We were to use it to bring fresh water into our camp for washing and cooking. It can further be split lengthwise to form a very durable flooring. It cannot be cut easily with a machete or axe and resists the saw on crosswise cuts. The blade of an ax will simply skip off of the wood, but I digress.

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By Sarah Ann

*In ancient Rome, the people called rats, “big mice” and mice were referred to as “little mice”. The actual translation was Mus Maximus (big mouse) or Mus minimus (little mouse).

* Near the Ino-Pakistan border in India is a small town called Deshnoke, famous for its 600 year old Karni Mata Temple, also known as the Temple of Rats. Karni Mata is believed to be the incarnation of Durga, the Hindu Goddess and thousands of rats are worshipped in the Temple. It is said that the souls of the followers of Karni Mata are in the rats and they must be looked after. The attending priests feed them milk and grain.

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Ferret Disease And Illness

By Lee Dobbins

Some people look at me like I’m crazy when I say “I love my ferret”, but I do, and they can think what they want. My little guy brings me hours of enjoyment and sunshine to my gray days. The last thing in the world I want is for him to get sick, yet it’s a fact of life and in order to offer the best care (and quality of life), you have to keep an eye on what’s going on in their ferret worlds.

FERRET CARE NOTE: If you suspect your ferret is sick, take him to the veterinarian as soon as possible. Do not try to treat him at home.

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Should You Give Children Hamsters

By Hal Storm

Getting a pet for a child is a great idea because it gives them responsibility and a buddy. Hamsters are a popular choice, but are they a good choice?

Hamsters are a type of rodent that belongs to the order Cricetinae which consists of about eighteen species. They come from the Middle East and Southeastern Europe and have become very popular as pets and lab animals because it is very easy to breed them in captivity. The most popular type in the pet store is known as the Syrian or Golden Hamster. They are smaller than Guinea Pigs which make them more suited for smaller homes, but they are equally as sociable.

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Hamster Care And Why Hamsters Make Great Pets

By P Anderson

Hamsters are one of the most popular pets in the world, and are definitely the most popular pet from the rodent family. Hamsters make great pets for people of all ages because of their cleanliness and cuteness, and hamsters are also relatively inexpensive and easy to take care of. A hamster usually makes an ideal pet for children and helps teach responsibility. The average lifespan of a hamster is approximately 1-3 years, and for this reason some people claim that caring for a hamster is a good way for a child to eventually learn to cope with loss.

There are many different kinds of hamsters, but the one most commonly kept as a pet is the cute Syrian hamster breed. Syrian hamsters are the largest kind of hamster, and they can be found in a lot of pretty different colors, in long-haired or short-haired variety. The long-haired Syrian hamster is sometimes called a Teddy Bear hamster. A full-grown Syrian hamster usually grows to about four to six inches long. An important thing to know about Syrian hamsters is that you should never keep more than one per cage, because if two Syrian hamsters are forced to share the same space, they will probably fight and can seriously hurt each other. The next most popular hamsters are Dwarf hamsters, which only grow to three to four inches in length, hence the name Dwarf hamsters. These cute little guys can be kept together with other Dwarf hamsters and they will usually get along just fine.

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