Pennywell Farm Miniature Piglets

I was reading The Telegraph (UK) online when I came across their compilation of cute animal stories around the world. I picked this to post on my blog because I personally love pigs.

When I was younger, I used to have a great collection of pig stuffed toys and glass decos and dreamt of keeping a pig as a pet. Of course, living in a regular residential area discounted that and my mother got fed up of my pig collection that she discarded them all one day.

Sigh... I stopped my obsession for pigs then and there.

In the following video, you could watch a litter of miniature pigs, just 5 inches long (there were a total of nine) which were born at Pennywell Farm, Devon, sometime in April, 2008. An appearance on American television has made them sudden celebrities. People were flocking to watch photos and videos of these piglets that the website which hosted them crashed!

They are simply too cute, aren't they?

Canine Fear Of Loud Noises

If you know me personally, you would know that I had a dog, Dino, who suffered from anxiety which was brought on by loud noises and which almost always throw him into a series of seizures. Although he is no longer here with me, dying from complications after a terrible bout of fits, I continue to research on canine issues, particularly those that plagued Dino. Perhaps it is for knowledge, perhaps it is to punish myself with the things that I could have done for Dino to help him with his anxiety or fits. Whatever it is, it doesn't change the fact that my beloved Dino is no longer here anymore.

Just now, I came across this article “The sound of fear: Noise phobias torment dogs” on MSNBC.com, addressing just this issue of canine phobia for noise. I particularly remember there was one time when we had a new neighbor and the lady's car did not have an automatic control of the gate and each time she returned home, she would sound her honk so that her maid would open the electronic gate from inside of the house. My poor Dino was startled from sleep quite a few times by her and since then, he started to be fearful of many different kinds of noises.

There was once when my brother had a bad cough and of course, coughs don't go away in a day or two. By the end of the second week, my Dino was so strung up that he fell into a bout of fits.

I remember that my Dino only developed a fear of thunderstorm about two years ago and with each passing storm, he would be more and more anxious until he goes into fits. I fear along side him each time there was a storm and living in my area did not help him at all since this is an area that is overly prone of thunderstorms.

Anyway, if you, unfortunately, have a dog that also suffered from anxiety, do check out the article for some suggestions to help keep your dog calm.

Bad Dog Chronicles

Two weeks after Dino left me, I still miss my baby so much. It was painful to see him go. I think that to die from a complication from fits was pretty tragic though the length of suffering was short. After 13.5 years taking care of him, since he was three weeks old, it is damn difficult to "let go". I miss everything about him.

Now that he is no longer here, I try to think of all the good stuff that endeared him to me while blocking out all the painful bouts of seizures that he suffered from since he was one year old.

Tonight, I was feeling nostalgic and I thought that I would read some dog stories on the web. I just want to feel good about dogs. I still have Snoopy, but he is the same age as Dino and is frail physically since his bout of tick parasite a year and a half ago.

I chanced upon Bad Dog Chronicles just now while randomly looking for dog stories to read. There are many cute dogs there telling their stories in a first-person perspective. These stories just remind me why I love Snoopy and Dino so much. They could never do wrong in my eyes. Though I may scold them when they drove me up the wall, I beat their furry butt and then I fall in love with them all over again when they look at me deeply with their wet eyes.

Pig In Boots

I am sure everyone has already heard of puss in boots. What about pig in boots? Apparently, this piglet is so afraid to get dirty that it refused to mix with the other pigs. Of course, the owners just thought that it was a social outcast at first, until somehow, they realised the problem.

Wearing Wellington boots, the piglet is moving around more now, in mud. And this odd behavior could well save its life from being made into pork sausage because the owners run a sausage factory!

Now, they have decided to turn poor piggie into a mascot instead.

Source: Here

How Old Is My Dog In Dog Years?

I have been so depressed since my beloved pet dog, Dino, left me so suddenly on 6th June, 2008. Human years, he was 13.5 years old and everyone tells me that it is considered “old” for a dog.

My vet tells me that to calculate dog age, the first year is eight human years while each subsequent year is equivalent to seven human years. So to calculate a dog’s age, we multiple the number of years by seven and add one.

Interestingly, I read in the Daily Mail that it is a myth that one dog year equals to seven human years. This report did not mention how we can calculate dog years, then, even though they say that it is a myth.

Still, knowing this does not bring back my Dino.

MYTH: ONE DOG YEAR EQUALS SEVEN HUMAN YEARS

FACT: This is a simple question of mathematics. The current, global human life-expectancy is around 67.5 years. The average life-expectancy for a dog is 12.8 years.

So a dog year is actually a little over five human years. But not all humans, or dogs, have the same life-expectancy.

By and large, the smaller the dog, the longer it lives. An average Irish wolfhound will only last for about six years, whereas a toy poodle or miniature dachshund will breeze past 14 with no trouble.

Similarly, a citizen of Andorra can expect to reach the grand old age of 83, whereas an inhabitant of Swaziland has an average of only 39 years on the planet. So a wolfhound year is equivalent to almost 14 Andorran years, whereas a dachshund year is about two-and-a-half Swazi years.

And there's another, biological factor. A dog is fully developed by its first birthday, whereas we humans do not, traditionally, reach full adulthood until our 21st birthdays. So that first dog year equals two whole human decades.

Super Cute Love Heart Chihuahua

I always say that I no longer want to keep anymore pets after my two senior dogs are no longer with me. The emotional toll is too much for me to handle, especially when they are unwell. After fourteen years, tell me who would not feel as if the family pets are a part of the family already.

A couple of weeks ago, as I was randomly browsing for animal stories, I chanced upon this Japanese Chihuahua, gosh... I fell in love with it and I know that if he is up for adoption, I would have taken him in a heartbeat. Heehee!

According to this report that has been republished on That's Weird, Heart-kun, as he is named, has received numerous offers by pet lovers but the owner, who runs a pet shop, is keeping him for herself. Who would not??

It is not surprising that Heart-kun has already made TV appearances worldwide. Sigh... what a cutie he is!

Dead Cat Becomes Black Diamond Ring

As you know, I run a Weird & Interesting news story blog as well. When I came across this weird news article about ten days ago, I was in two minds if I should republish this interesting animal story on this blog or on the Weird stories blog. Looks like in the end, I decided to post it here because it involves an animal, a car, in particular.

I copied the entire weird news article here because I know that with news sites, once news articles are archives, the old links will be broken. So here it is. I wished they have a photo of the cat as well....

ILFRACOMBE, England, May 19 (UPI) -- A British woman said she turned her beloved, recently deceased cat into a one-third-of-a-carat black diamond ring with the help of a U.S. firm.

Sue Rogers, 45, said she was so distraught over the death of her 11-year-old cat, Sooty, that normal avenues of memorial didn't seem special enough for her beloved pet, The Telegraph reported Monday.

Scientists with Chicago's LifeGem said they created the diamond by extracting 2 grams of carbon from 100 grams of the cat's ashes. They placed the carbon in a diamond press, where it was submitted to more than 1 million pounds of pressure and temperatures reaching 5,432 degrees Fahrenheit.

Rogers told The Telegraph the black diamond, thought to be the only such jewel in the world made from animal ashes, was cut, polished and set in a gold band. She said the item cost her more than $4,000.

"I asked the company if they did black diamonds and they said they had never done one before. But thankfully they were able to and now Sooty is a black diamond," Rogers said to the newspaper. "They use ashes, but not all of them, so it is still possible to scatter some ashes in the traditional way as well."

Source: United Press International