"Hamburger Helper" (Bizarro.com)

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1/20/12-- Last Thursday I was surprised to see that an opossum had followed my cat through the cat door and into the kitchen. He and the cat seemed to be peacefully enjoying dinner together. Happily, he ran out when he noticed me. --Christine in Central Florida

Dogs and Cats

Feliway Electric Diffuser and Adaptil

Available for both dogs and cats, this scent mimics pheromones, the chemical naturally produced by animal moms to soothe their babies. The diffuser is great when you leave your pet alone and the spritz is perfect to spray in a pet carrier for long trips. Dr. Becker puts this on his hands when he treats pets to give them a sense of calm during their visits.

Feliway (Comfort Zone) spray and diffusers prevent cats from urinating where they shouldn’t. This fantastic new pheromone Feliway spray or diffuser duplicates the smell of a cat’s natural scent glands. Cats will not soil anything close to where Feliway has been sprayed. I had personal experience with Feliway while cat-sitting for a friend. They had sequestered a street rescue in their attic until they could have him tested for infection diseases (there are two other cats in the household). A sweet and affectionate guy, I believe he had abandonment issues, because he howled and howled when left alone. We tried Feliway. The howling diminished and eventually died down.

Alterations in the cat’s environment such as visits to the vet, moving house, new arrivals, or nervous cats may manifest themselves as a change in behavior such as urine marking, scratching, loss of appetite and refusal to play and interact. The diffuser helps to restore a feeling of calm in

Dogs Only
Adaptil^TM  is a synthetic copy of the natural canine appeasing pheromone  proven to help support dogs in a range of stressful situations. Adaptil is canine specific, odorless, non-sedative, non-systemic and can be used alongside all other types of medication. The efficacy of Adaptil has been demonstrated in 18 studies published in scientific journals and at veterinary conferences around the world.

For puppies – Adaptil is shown to help puppies settle in a new home and to have significant positive effects on puppy socialization.  Fitting an Adaptil collar to puppies from 6-16 weeks helps puppies develop into confident, well-behaved adult dogs and significantly reduces the likelihood of anxiety-related conditions developing in later life.

For adult dogs – Adaptil has also been shown to help dogs cope in kennels during rehoming and in a range of other stressful situations such as during firework exposure and car travel.

Adaptil (formerly known as DAP^® ) has been used by behaviorists, veterinary experts and welfare charities for the last 10 years

Adaptil can be used in the following situations:

• Help promote learning during training and socialization
• Help puppies or adult dogs settle in new homes
• Help dogs to cope with challenging situations such as staying in kennels, staying home, alone, fireworks, visiting the vet, travelling, Christmas, new baby

“Through a Dog’s Ear”

If you think your dog doesn’t care about your music playlist, think again. Dr. Becker finds that animals are easily excited by rock music. This set of three CDs has been clinically proven to reduce anxiety in high-stress areas like the kennel or veterinarian’s office.

The music of Through a Dog’s Ear builds on the ground breaking psychoacoustic research of Dr. Alfred Tomatis (1920-2001). Known as the “Einstein of the ear,” Tomatis discovered the extraordinary powers of sound as a “nutrient for the nervous system.” His therapeutic discoveries redefine modern psychoacoustics — the study of the effect of music and sound on the human nervous system.

These recordings are psychoacoustically designed to support you and your dog’s compromised immune or nervous system function. When the immune or nervous system is heavily taxed, a natural reaction is to self-limit the amount of auditory or visual stimulation coming into the system. However, the “nutrients” of sound are needed the most when life energy is at a low ebb or when neurodevelopmental (including sensory) issues are present. To facilitate maximum sound intake while conserving energy output, the method of simple sound has been created.

The music of Through a Dog’s Ear use psychoacoustic techniques that naturally trigger the relaxation or arousal response. Therefore, when first using these recordings, consider the level of relaxation or stimulation of your canine’s nervous system that best serves the situation.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with the music; it cannot hurt you or your dog. If you find that your dog becomes agitated while listening, simply turn the music off or switch to a slower or faster CD. Your dog’s body will tell you what it needs… just be observant.

People have asked us why we created this music. One of the simple answers–as funny as it sounds–is to keep your dogs off drugs (Just bark no!!!). While not a magic bullet for every canine issue, properly arranged music can have a very deep effect on you, your family, and your canines. Inexpensively and without ongoing side effects… healthy nervous function can prolong life and we believe this music is a component of that endeavor.

Bottom line, the music of Through a Dog’s Ear is an extremely effective tool to speed up or slow down the nervous system using the most beautiful music in the world

Calming Cap

This calming cap, almost like a human sleep mask, reduces all visual noise for your pet. The fabric is see-through and dims the room, making it calm and dark. It’s easy to put on and slips right under your dog’s leash.

The Gentle Leader Calming Cap is a new behavior management aid that is designed to lessen a dog’s anxiety or aggression in high-stress situations. The Calming Cap was designed by Trish King, CPDT CDBC and director of Behavior & Training at the Marin Humane Society, in collaboration with Lisa Moore, CPDT. The Cap was developed originally to ease hyperactivity in a dog that became agitated while traveling in a car. Since then, pet owners and professionals across the pet industry have used the Cap to quiet and calm anxious or excitable dogs. How It Works: The Calming Cap reduces the visual stimulus that makes a dog agitated by filtering his vision. The single-panel sheer fabric window makes the dog’s vision indistinct, while allowing the dog to easily navigate his surroundings. Quality Features: Single-panel sheer fabric window offers enough vision to confidently navigate surroundings while reducing the provoking stimulus. Soft fabric and elastic fit provides maximum comfort. Two Velcro strips wrap around the collar allowing for easy on/off use. Available in four sizes! Petite – Most Toy Breeds, Puppies; Small – Shelties, Most Small Terriers, etc.; Medium – Cattle Dogs, Female German Shepherds & Rotties, etc.; Large – Mountain Dogs, Male German Shepherds & Rotties, etc.

Thundershirt

This thundershirt was originally developed to help pets with thunderstorm phobias. It’s proven to lessen the anxiety that leads to destructive doggy behavior. Like a gentle embrace, the vest hugs the pet in all the right spots.

All of the pets featured on “GMA” today are available for adoption through the Humane Society of New York.

Sources: ABCNews.com;Throughadogsears.com; ceva.us/us/Products/Product-List/Adaptil-Formerly-D.A.P-R;

For more on N’kisi, researcher Aimee Morgana, and The N’Kisi Project, click on the following link:

http://sheldrake.org/nkisi

Our primate ancestors have been laughing for 10 million years

Study that involved tickling apes suggests laughter is not a uniquely human trait after all

The first hoots of laughter from an ancient ancestor of humans rippled across the land at least 10 million years ago, according to a study of giggling primates.

Researchers used recordings of apes and babies being tickled to trace the origins of laughter back to the last common ancestor that humans shared with the modern great apes, which include chimpanzees, gorillas and orang-utans.

The finding challenges the view that laughter is a uniquely human trait, suggesting instead that it emerged long before humans split from the evolutionary path that led to our primate cousins, between 10m and 16m years ago.

“In humans, laughing is a complex and intriguing expression. It can be the strongest way of expressing how much we are enjoying ourselves, but it can also be used in other contexts, like mocking,” said Marina Davila Ross, a psychologist at Portsmouth University. “I was interested in whether laughing had a pre-human basis, whether it emerged earlier on than we did.”

Davila Ross travelled to seven zoos around Europe and visited a wildlife reserve in Sabah, Borneo, to record baby and juvenile apes while their caretakers tickled them. Great apes are known to make noises that are similar to laughter when they are excited and while they are playing with each other.

“The caretakers play with the apes all the time and tickling is a very important part of that. There are certain body parts that are more ticklish than others, depending on the individual. Some were tickled on their necks or armpits, while others offered their feet to be tickled,” said Davila Ross.

In total, Davila Ross collected recordings of mirth from 21 chimps, gorillas, orang-utans and bonobos and added recordings of three babies that were tickled to make them laugh.

To analyse the recordings, the team fed them into a computer program that arranged them on an “evolutionary tree” based on how related to each other they seemed to be. Remarkably, the laughter recorded from different primates linked together in a way that matched the evolutionary tree linking all of the species to one common ancestor.

“Our evolutionary tree based on these acoustic recordings alone showed that humans were closest to chimps and bonobos, but furthest from orang-utans, with gorillas somewhere intermediate. And that is what you see in the well-established evolutionary tree of great apes,” said Davila Ross. “What this shows is strong evidence to suggest that laughing comes from a common primate ancestor.”

Writing in the journal Current Biology, the researchers describe how the earliest laughter-like sounds were shorter and noisier, but with time became longer and clearer as the great apes evolved.

Human laughter sounds very different from the noises produced by great apes. The differences are thought to have arisen when certain acoustic features became exaggerated in early humans after they split from ancestors they shared with chimps and bonobos around 5.5m years ago.

Humans laugh as they exhale, but chimps can laugh as they breathe in as well. The human laugh is also produced by more regular vibrations of the vocal cords than in any of the apes.

Few studies have been carried out into the role of laughter in primates, but at least one study has suggested that it is important in expressing excitement and arousal. Laughing might also have been important for bonding within groups of animals.

Robert Provine, a psychologist and neuroscientist at the University of Maryland and author of the book Laughter: A Scientific Investigation, said students who took part in his own studies likened chimp “laughter” to a dog panting, an asthma attack or hyperventilation. Some even thought the noise was caused by someone sawing.

“The means of production of human and ape laughter are as different as the sound, with the ape vocalisation being produced during both inward and outward breaths, while the human parse an outward breath into ‘ha-ha’,” he said.

“The simplicity and stereotypy of laughter provides a valuble tool with which to trace vocal evolution, much as simpler systems of molecular biology are useful for investigating complex life processes,” he added.

In March, reseachers reported that a chimp at a zoo in Sweden had started to challenge scientists’ views about the unique nature of human behaviour.

The 31-year-old male, Santino, regularly displayed thuggish behaviour by preparing piles of rocks while the zoo was closed and then lobbing them at visitors when the gates opened. The chimp has since been castrated.

Zookeepers at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington DC have reported another human trait in one of its long-time residents, Bonnie, a 30-year-old orang-utan. Researchers believe Bonnie learned to whistle by copying the zookeepers. Although she is unable to hold a tune, other apes at the zoo have reportedly begun copying her.

The gift will be used to fund conservation efforts in China, reproductive science, professional training programs, giant panda care and upgrades to panda habitats at the zoo, and public education. In addition, young conservation biologists in the United States and China who are awarded National Zoo fellowships for their work to save the endangered species will be named David M. Rubenstein Fellows. In recognition of the gift, the giant panda complex will be named the David M. Rubenstein Family Giant Panda Habitat.

The gift will enable a scientific team from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the zoo’s animal care team to proceed with a five-year plan developed with Chinese colleagues from the China Wildlife Conservation Association. The plan focuses on the creation and impact of corridors linking fragmented habitats to benefit giant pandas and other species; the restoration of panda habitat, especially in regions where pandas appear to be making a comeback; the potential impact of transmissible diseases on giant panda populations and other species; and continued research on giant panda reproduction and management.

“Giant Panda Habitat Named for Donor David M. Rubenstein.” Smithsonian Institution Press Release 12/19/11.

Source: Philanthropy News Digest

Cairo

The mission to capture Osama Bin Laden didn’t just include a few dozen Navy Seals. A dog named Cairo played an integral part. Military dogs are often equipped with an ear bud and camera in order to be the first to enter a room and help soldiers survey the scene. Guest host Allison Keyes speaks with Lisa Rogak, author of Dogs of War. To listen to the segment, click on the link below:

Cairo

http://www.npr.org/v2/?i=144132079&m=144132072&t=audio

HOST: Allison Keyes for Michelle Martin / Program: Tell Me More / SEGMENT TITLE: Combat Canines Take on Tough Missions / BROADCAST DATE: 12/22/2011 / SEGMENT LENGTH: 8:04

“Overall, clinic visits at this time of year increase slightly,” says Dr. Debra Primovic, a veterinarian at the Animal Emergency Clinic in St. Louis. Aside from the overexcitement and confusion caused by too many guests, there are purely physical problems: A cat can singe a tail on a candle or can swallow tinsel and wind up with an intestinal blockage that may need surgery to repair. “But we see more cases of toxicity, cases related to an animal’s biting an electrical cord or cases related to a pet eating chocolate or table scraps and developing pancreatitis.”

Here’s how to keep a pet safe during this holiday season:

The Tree

The natural smell of a Christmas tree attracts pets. But remember that needles (even artificial ones) are indigestible. So, keep your pet away from the tree (using a baby gate in the doorway or low lattice fencing around the tree itself) and, since cats like to climb, secure it so he can’t knock it over. Live Christmas trees can become a fire hazard and a house fire can occur. Pets trapped in fires may suffer from thermal burns, smoke inhalation or carbon monoxide poisoning.

Artificial trees pose their own hazards. Small pieces of plastic or aluminum can break off and be swallowed, causing intestinal blockage or irritation to the mouth. Christmas tree tinsel can be a serious problem if ingested.

Don’t use preservatives in the stand water. They can be toxic if consumed by a thirsty pet. Carefully cover the top of the stand with a tree skirt so your pet can’t get to it.

Lights can get very hot – remove them from the lower branches of the tree so they won’t burn a curious cat.

Tinsel is dangerous. Its sharp edges can cause cuts in the mouth. If a pet swallows it, it can block intestines, causing decreased appetite, vomiting, diarrhea, listlessness and weight loss. Treatment usually involves surgery.

Don’t use edible ornaments or fragile, easily breakable glass decorations to trim the tree. Your pet may knock over the tree trying to get to them and decide they’re toys and cut himself/herself trying to play with them.

Don’t use angel hair. It’s made of spun glass and can cause irritation on contact.

Make sure electrical cords are out of reach, taped firmly to walls or floors. Chewing on wires may cause burns or pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs), which can be fatal.

Don’t use wire ornament hooks that can easily snag an ear or a tail, or, if swallowed, can lodge in the throat or intestines. Instead, fashion loops of yarn, ribbons or light weight twine. And be careful not to leave any of that lying around.

The Gifts

Check out the “toys” your pet or kids receive as gifts. A pet can swallow small parts; plastic items can be easily broken and swallowed, too.

Gift wrappings can be dangerous to a pet’s health: String and ribbon can cause obstruction of the small bowel if swallowed [I have experience with this]. Cats, especially, love to eat the string used to tie up the turkey as it cooks.

Before throwing away large boxes or cartons, check the insides to make sure a kitten or puppy hasn’t curled up inside.

The Food

Alcohol and chocolate are toxic – keep drinks and sweets out of a pet’s reach. Chocolate contains a substance called theobromine, and even a single ounce of pure chocolate can be lethal to a small cat or dog. Dark and unsweetened baking chocolate are most dangerous. Symptoms of poisoning include vomiting, diarrhea, tremors, hyperactivity and seizures.

Turkey bones left in an accessible place are almost irresistible to pets, but they can lodge in an animal’s throat or block the intestinal tract. Remove leftovers from the table and don’t leave garbage where animals can get to it.

Ingestion of large amounts of high fat foods can result in serious gastrointestinal upset.

Indoor Hazards

Certain plants are a menace to cats: Poinsettias irritate the stomach and eyes. Berries of the Jerusalem cherry are toxic, and cause pain, vomiting and diarrhea. Holly and mistletoe, amaryllis, chrysanthemum, rhododendron and winter broom as well as Christmas berry, cherry, pepper and rose can all cause problems to pets that ingest them. Note: Liquid potpourri can cause terrible burns in an animal’s mouth should it be ingested.

Space heaters, wood-burning stoves and fireplaces can cause burns if animals get too close.

Candles are a great attraction for pets, but don’t leave them alone in a room with a menorah or candelabra blazing-the swish of a tail can be disastrous.

During this holiday season, many lights are displayed. With these lights come electric cords. Pets can find these cords interesting and fun chew toys. Electric shock or electric burns can occur.

Outdoor Hazards

Even a small amount of antifreeze is extremely toxic. It has a sweet taste that attracts animals, but it can cause permanent kidney damage or death. The lethal dose is one teaspoon per two pounds of body weight. Don’t let animals drink from puddles, and make sure to clean paws when a pet comes in from the outdoors.

Rock salt can irritate a pet’s footpads. Make sure you rinse and dry them carefully. To soften them and prevent cracking, smear them with a small amount of petroleum jelly.

H A P P Y  A N D  S A F E  H O L I D A Y S !

Reference: petplace.com — Dr. Jon’s cat and dog newsletters

(Reprinted with permission of Time magazine)

Not long ago, I spent the morning having coffee with Kanzi. It wasn’t my idea; Kanzi invited me, though he did so in his customary clipped way. Kanzi is a fellow of few words — 384 of them by formal count, though he probably knows dozens more. He has a perfectly serviceable voice — very clear, very expressive and very, very loud. But it’s not especially good for forming words, which is the way of things when you’re a bonobo, the close and more peaceable cousin of the chimpanzee.

But Kanzi is talkative all the same. For much of his day, he keeps a sort of glossary close at hand — three laminated, place mat — like sheets filled with hundreds of colorful symbols that represent all the words he’s been taught by his minders or picked up on his own. He can build thoughts and sentences, even conjugate, all by pointing. The sheets include not just easy nouns and verbs like ball and Jell-O and run and tickle but also concept words like from and later and grammatical elements like the -ing and -ed endings signifying them.

Sue Savage Rumbaugh

Kanzi knows the value of breaking the ice before getting down to business. So he points to the coffee icon on his glossary and then points to me. He then sweeps his arm wider, taking in primatologist Sue Savage-Rumbaugh, an investigator at the Great Ape Trust — the research center in Des Moines, Iowa, that Kanzi calls home — and lab supervisor Tyler Romine. Romine fetches four coffees — hot, but not too hot — takes one to Kanzi in his patio enclosure on the other side of a Plexiglas window and then rejoins us. Kanzi sips — gulps, actually — and since our voices are picked up by microphones, he listens as we talk.

“We told him that a visitor was coming,” Savage-Rumbaugh tells me. “He’s been excited, but he was stubborn this morning, and we couldn’t get him to come out to the yard. So we had to negotiate a piece of honeydew melon in exchange.” Honeydew is not yet on Kanzi’s word list; instead, he points to the glyphs for green, yellow and watermelon. When he tried kale, he named it “slow lettuce” because it takes longer to chew than regular lettuce.

The not-for-profit Great Ape Trust is home to seven bonobos, including Kanzi’s baby son Teco, born this year on June 1. Kanzi is by no means the first ape to have been taught language. The famous Koko, Washoe and others came before him. But the Trust takes a novel approach, raising apes from birth with spoken and symbolic language as a constant feature of their days. Just as human mothers take babies on walks and chatter to them about what they see even though the child does yet not understand, so too do the scientists at the Trust narrate the lives of their bonobos. With the help of such total immersion, the apes are learning to communicate better, faster and with greater complexity.

All the same, today Kanzi is not interested in saying much, preferring to run and leap and display his physical prowess instead. “Ball,” he taps on one of his glossary sheets when he finishes his coffee.

“Tell him you’ll get it for him,” Savage-Rumbaugh instructs me and then shows me where the necessary symbols are on a sheet I have in hand. “Yes-I-will-chase-the-ball-for-you,” I slowly peck out, chase being a word Kanzi uses interchangeably with get.

It takes me a while to find the ball in an office down the hall, and when I finally return, Savage-Rumbaugh verbally asks Kanzi, “Are you ready to play?” He looks at us balefully. “Past ready,” he pecks.

Humans have a fraught relationship with beasts. They are our companions and our chattel, our family members and our laborers, our household pets and our household pests. We love them and cage them, admire them and abuse them. And, of course, we cook and eat them.

Our dodge — a not unreasonable one — has always been that animals are ours to do with as we please simply because they don’t suffer the way we do. They don’t think, not in any meaningful way. They don’t worry. They have no sense of the future or their own mortality. They may pair-bond, but they don’t love. For all we know, they may not even be conscious. “The reason animals do not speak as we do is not that they lack the organs,” René Descartes once said, “but that they have no thoughts.” For many people, the Bible offers the most powerful argument of all. Human beings were granted “dominion over the beasts of the field,” and there the discussion can more or less stop.

But one by one, the berms we’ve built between ourselves and the beasts are being washed away. Humans are the only animals that use tools, we used to say. But what about the birds and apes that we now know do as well? Humans are the only ones who are empathic and generous, then. But what about the monkeys that practice charity and the elephants that mourn their dead? Humans are the only ones who experience joy and a knowledge of the future. But what about the U.K. study just last month showing that pigs raised in comfortable environments exhibit optimism, moving expectantly toward a new sound instead of retreating warily from it? And as for humans as the only beasts with language? Kanzi himself could tell you that’s not true.

Peter Singer

All of that is forcing us to look at animals in a new way. With his 1975 book Animal Liberation, bioethicist Peter Singer of Princeton University launched what became known as the animal-rights movement. The ability to suffer, he argued, is a great cross-species leveler, and we should not inflict pain on or cause fear in an animal that we wouldn’t want to experience ourselves. This idea has never met with universal agreement, but new studies are giving it more legitimacy than ever. It’s not enough to study an animal’s brain, scientists now say; we need to know its mind.

(Continued in Part 2)