Recently, we discovered a jewelry which is not usual. An accessory made from cat's fur. Flora Davis creates jewelry out of fur groomed from her cat, a flame-point Ragamuffin called Gaia who sheds mounds of fluffy hair each week. She then sells her fluffy creations on Etsy.
Davis was first inspired to make something out of Gaia’s hair when she started grooming her cat, whose fur needs to be combed at least once a week or it starts to get matted. She explained to Wired.co.uk: “Ordinarily I would have thrown the hair into the compost, but it felt so soft in my hands, I couldn’t bring myself to throw it away. As I examined his beautiful hair, I started rolling it into a ball and then, on impulse, I threw it to him. He loved it!”
Over time the balls of fur began to accumulate around Davis’ apartment. “Awash in hairballs, I gathered a bowlful and placed them on top of the piano. Surprisingly, the balls had a lovely appearance that reminded me of oversized white pearls. This was my inspiration for using Gaia’s ‘toys’ in a way that would display my love for this special cat.”
Davis has spent a while perfecting the technique of making perfect fur spheres. She starts by taking a small handful of fluff, which she molds into a starter ball. To this she adds more fluff around the edges and then rolls it between her palms quickly until the strands of hair start to felt into tight, solid ball forms. She then stashes the balls until there are enough to make a necklace — which can take between two and three months.
So far, Davis has created a range of different necklace designs, a little cage featuring a number of cat-hair baubles that’s “informal and goes nicely with a T-shirt and jeans,” a piece called Bubbles that features a range of fur balls attached to a branchlike necklace that “would be appropriate at any gala event,” and some more classic necklaces which look a little like chunky pearl necklaces.
For a mere $95 you can be the proud owner of one of Ms. Davis’s unique pieces of art.
It sounds odd but some apartment complexes thinks that it is the best way to find out who’s not cleaning up after their pets.
The Timberwood Commons in Lebanon, N.H., opened this year and already has had problems with some residents who aren't cleaning up messes their dogs leave. So manager Debbie Violette is going to use commercially available DNA sampling kits to check the DNA that dogs leave behind when they go.
All residents who own pets are required to submit samples from their dogs so DNA profiles can be put on file. Debbie, takes a sample of the pile and sends it off to lab. Technicians there are able to determine the violators through a DNA match.
The kits cost $50 per pet, and the management says that's a cost the complex is covering.
Although they say they're not the first complex to implement this, it's getting national attention and mixed reactions from tenants and the community. Some tenants called it "extreme," while others called it "effective."
You might heard about the cat named Oscar with a bionic leg, and now the first dog with a bionic leg is here. Naki'o was barely 5 weeks old when he and his brothers and sisters were abandoned by a family moving out of Nebraska. Having barely survived the winter, all four of the dog's paws were deformed into rounded stumps after being stuck in an icy puddle.
Someone found the red heeler pups and took them to an animal rescue center. Nakio’s paws were slayed by frostbite and veterinarians had to amputate. He was left with four stumps. When they healed, he was able to walk around on them for a while, but as he grew it was too much, and he could only crawl around on his belly.
"Even though he was hobbling, he was still just trying to enjoy life," said Martin Kaufmann, the founder of OrthoPets, who outfitted Naki'o with his new paws."Naki'o's personality was great." It was that spirit that captivated his owner, a veterinary technician, to adopt him form a shelter and raise money for him to get two prosthetics.
Veterinary technician Christie Tomlinson adopted him, and raised funds to get him fitted with two prosthetic rear legs. They worked out so well that OrthoPets decided to give him two more limbs free of charge.
At first walking on all four prosthetics was challenging, but Naki’o adapted quickly, learning how to use the devices as though they were his natural legs. After just a few days he was running and bounding. The prosthetics are built to mimic the muscle and bone of dog limbs, allowing them to do everything a normal dog would do.
Now, Naki'o is able to run, jump and play just like other dogs, thanks to the second chance his new set of legs have given him.
Cats are supposed to meow not bark but a cat in Atlanta seems to be different because it barks. Oh yes, a cat barks like a dog.
The pet's owner crept up on it with a video camera as it imitated the canine sound. Unaware it was being filmed, the moggy carried on until it realized that it was being watched. It slowly turned its head and, upon seeing its owner, quickly turned the bark into a meow. It's like he's been caught in the act.
I know it's kinda unbelievable but some critics says that it was evidence that cats and dogs can understand each other.
After the struck of May 22 tornado, many pets have been lost and separated from their owner. A tough little dog named Bentley apparently survived for nearly three weeks buried under a pile of tornado debris in Missouri.
Glenda Erwin, director of the Carthage Humane Society, told the Carthage Press that the spunky Shih Tzu was found in a field in the town of Diamond Saturday. It’s suspected Bentley landed there and had been under the debris ever since, judging from the nature of his injuries, which include a nasty scrape between his eyes that shelter officials speculate was caused by flying debris, splinters of wood and blades of grass and carpet fibers embedded under his skin.
Erwin said a woman was in tears when she brought the dog in with a number of children. The woman dropped off the dog, which was wrapped in a towel, at the shelter and left before workers could get her name.
The dog was took to to Central Pet Care in Carthage, where veterinarians and workers shaved the matted fur off the dog and treated its injuries. The dog appears to be deaf and possibly blind, but vets weren’t sure if those conditions are a result of the tornado or were previously existing.
Erwin said she was going to Joplin on Tuesday to look at pictures of missing pets to see if a dog matching Bentley’s description had been reported. “We want to see if the owner is still out there,” Erwin said. “If we don’t find the owner in a week or so, we will put him up for adoption.”
Do you guys remember Helmsley's heir? It's none other than Trouble, one of the world richest dog in 1992.
The darling dog of the billionaire “Queen of Mean” real-estate mogul died in Florida at the age of 12 or 84 in dog years, a spokeswoman said Thursday. Helmsley, who died in 2007, left $12 million to the pooch, though a judge later reduced it to $2 million. Trouble passed away in December but reportedly only now.
Trouble's owner, Leona said in her will she wanted to be buried with the dog in Helmsley's mausoleum at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Westchester County, but a worker at the cemetery who answered the phone there said dog burials aren’t allowed on the grounds. Instead, she was cremated and her remains are being privately retained.
While in Florida, Trouble lived a life of luxury, as Carl Lekic, the general manager of the Helmsley Sandcastle hotel in Sarasota, cared for her with a budget of about $100,000 yearly. The allowance covered Trouble's food, grooming, Lekic's fee and a security guard, according to the Daily News.
Truly a dog is a great help for us human. Aside from being a companion, guard, hunter, etc., dog also help with mental illness too, like managing PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder.
67-year-old Michael Gaither spent four years holed up in his Chiefland, Fla., home, leaving only for doctor appointments. About three months ago, things got worse when he fell and broke four ribs. The agonizing pain and the thought of yet another disabling condition left Gaither wondering if life was still worth living. But not until he met Honey.
Gaither found found the relief he needed from a 16-month-old German shepherd named Honey. "When I get tense, she knows it, and she comes up and puts her head on my leg or my chest to comfort me, and I forget what I'm concerned about," said Gaither. "If I have nightmares, she'll jump on my chest and wake me up." Honey also picks things up if Gaither drops them, and if he's inside and needs his wife when she's outside, Honey will go fetch her.
According to Joan Esnarya president and founder of the Psychiatric Service Dog Society, dogs are very sensitive to escalations of mood. They can tell if a person's mood is starting to escalate to a panic attack and tell it to them before they lost their composure and lost their ability to think clearly.
A growing number of veterans are turning to dogs to help with PTSD symptoms, and experts say dogs can help with other psychiatric problems as well, including major depression and panic attacks.
Dozens of dogs went on a surfing safari Saturday at the sixth annual Loews Coronado Bay Resort Surf Dog competition held in San Diego sparkling Imperial Beach.
This year’s event had some pretty cool dogs “hanging ten” in the 58 degree ocean water. The contest featured a variety of breeds ranging from a Shi-Tzu mix, to a Bulldog, all the way up to a Golden Retriever. More than 60 dogs from across the country took part in the competition where they had 10 minutes to catch two decent waves.
The heats are subdivided into three categories, small dogs, large dogs and tandem dogs. Judges look for confidence in the four legged surfers as well as a long wave ride and a good sense of fashion.
The winner of the small dog division was an Australian Kelpie named Abbie and the large dog division was taken by a Golden Retriever named Kalani, aka Lil Surfer Girl. The tandem event was won by Zoey, a Jack Russell Terrier who surfed alongside her owners’ Scott and Tyler Chandler. The second place seat went to the So Cal Surf Dogs, 5 dogs whose tandem ride on the surfboard set a new record.
Winners of the competition receive a special vacation package at the Loews Coronado Bay Resort. All profits from the competition are donated to DonorsChoose.org, an online forum which provides a space for public teachers in San Diego to request and receive funding for school supplies from private sponsors.
Have you heard about stem cell therapy? It is a revolutionary treatment for arthritic dogs that help them get comfortable again.
The treatment had been used with great success in horses for years but more and more veterinarians are adding the patented Vet-Stem Regenerative Cell therapy to their medical bag of tricks. Other veterinarians say that the the theory behind the treatment is that the stem cells can increase the body's ability to decrease inflammation, helping the injured tissues to regenerate.
The procedure involves surgery to remove fat cells from the animal, and then shipping the cells to Vet-Stem for removal of the stem cells. The cells are then sent back to the vet, ready to inject into the creaking joints of arthritic canines.
Heartland Animal Hospital in Spartanburg County is the first animal hospital in the Upstate to offer the entire procedure in-house.
The said therapy cost is steep: $3,500 to $4,000, but pet owners increasingly are willing to pay whatever it takes to keep their pets, healthy, happy and alive.
Recently, we discovered a jewelry which is not usual. An accessory made from cat's fur. Flora Davis creates jewelry out of fur groomed from her cat, a flame-point Ragamuffin called Gaia who sheds mounds of fluffy hair each week. She then sells her fluffy creations on Etsy.
