#Animal Care

[aquariumpacific]

Weighing an octopus! 🐙⚖️

[deepfriedsharkbites]

Quite honestly, "slubbing" seems to be a pretty un-scientific term for this behavior! It is a marking behavior, much like domestic housecats do, and can be a sign of possession and affection. Here's some April slubbing, as promised. :)

North American Opossum (Didelphis virginiana)

It seems I can't reblog with videos, so consider this a follow-up!

[lemonmatronics]

Abdallah is an under appreciated hero in Palestine doing everything he can to care for and feed the animals around him.

Despite the horrible situation the Palestinian people are in, so many of them are taking care of animals just as much as their fellow humans. If you have anything to give, please consider donating to his PayPal and help him care for these innocent beings.

If you are unable to donate then please PLEASE reblog and share. He is a very kind soul and grateful for all the support he gets

He genuinely does everything he can for them, do at least the bare minimum for him.

[the-shadows-request-candy-corn]

Trump may be about to sign the death sentence of the National Institute of Health, and, by extension, the Office of Lab Animal Welfare.

He gutted research animal protections.

Any vertebrate that isn't a mammal will have no rights.

Neither will mice or rats.

If NIH grants are stopped, researchers can't pay anyone. They can't perform research. They can't pay for veterinary services.

They won't be required to provide veterinary services.

The only medical research that will happen will be self funded by big pharma, and they can torture the animals and skew all the lab results that they want.

Just like Musk did to the primates in his neuralink research.

I don't know what's going to happen to me or anyone else at the university where I work. My job is to make sure the animals are treated humanely and to provide veterinary care. I'm especially scared about what's going to happen to those research animals if veterinary staff gets laid off. The USDA only covers mammals, and it doesn't even cover all of them. Every rat I've ever made a tiny paper gift box full of marshmallows for, every mouse I've ever watched grow up, every rodent I've ever separated from an aggressive dominant brother and then treated their tiny wounds, they have no protections if NIH goes down. Decades of research into humane handling, euthanasia, and animal behavior will be tossed aside and wasted.

Please, do everything you can. Protest. Contact your representatives. Anything you can do. Do it for science, for medicine, for people's lives, for people's jobs, and for the animals.

Edit: thank you to everyone who's spreading this, but please reblog the updated reblog that I have pinned to my profile. The NIH is no longer frozen, but "indirect expenses" limits is just as big a threat to lab animal welfare, scientific integrity, and people's jobs as an NIH freeze.

[kaijutegu]

Hive mind, help me out here!

My brother and his fiancée have to start bathing their cat. She's got a very thick, plush coat, and her tongue... is smooth.

Like, you know how cats' tongues are supposed to be rough, to help them with that whole grooming thing? Hers isn't. She has some of the papillae, but they're much smaller and rounder than they should be, and she struggles to get through her coat. This has led to some skin issues and dandruff, and their vet has recommended baths (and some kind of medicated shampoo, I forget what kind).

This particular cat (she of the smooth tongue) is much less tolerant than their other cat (he of the smooth brain), and before they start bathing her, they want to work on helping her with distress tolerance so that she isn't traumatized. They asked me if I could ask around because the advice I had to give is mostly relevant for lizards, not a domesticated mammal with a major aversion to water.

They've been watching a lot of cat behavior content- I know they've watched Girl With The Dogs' cat bathing videos and some Jackson Galaxy and several videos from vets- and right now they're in the information gathering stage before making a plan for desensitization training and helping her get comfortable. They are aware she's probably never going to like baths, but the end goal is a cat with healthy skin who isn't traumatized. So if you've got any advice on how to train a cat to accept bathing, please add on to this post and I'll send it their way!

This is the dandruffy criminal in question:

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

Can you help me articulate what the happy medium is between "there is no such thing as perfect pet ownership" and "a lot of common sense pet ownership advice is wrong"?

There is no such thing as perfect pet ownership, but staying educated from credible sources matters. I don't have a good framing for it in terms of what the medium is, but I get the question you're asking.

What I've noticed over the almost-decade of running this blog (yikes) is that most people really want to do better by theirs pets, and in doing so they turn to whatever resources are most accessible to them. If people aren't exposed to scientific resources about behavior - if they don't know they exist or can't access them - then it makes sense they'd rely on "folk wisdom" about pets that's online or their family member who has had lots of pets. And yeah, a lot of that easily available "wisdom" is based on outdated behavioral concepts or rumor, but that's the unfortunate reality of the information ecosystem we live in.

When you know better, you do better. And I've seen this play out for years and years here. So many asks the blog gets are from people who have either identified a gap in their knowledge and are looking to fix it, or from people who are really worried they've been a bad pet owner for doing xyz without knowing better. But not everyone has the same access to information about animal care. It's unkind and unproductive to condemn someone for not knowing they didn't know something. So I think for me the middle ground is wanting people to try to do their best by their animals, and be willing to change their management practices if they learn there's a better way.

Realistically, no pet ownership is perfect. There are going to be times people have to limit their animal's life (e.g. crate rest for an injury) or result in negative experiences (vet visits). The goal is to do the best you can with what you know and the resources you have, and if people are aiming for that, I'm happy with it.

[strangecowplant]

please help me pay my kitties emergency vet bill!

ive never done this before but one of my cats just had to get an extremely sudden emergency procedure and i don't know what to do, my vet and i have reached out to a couple incredible programs here to help with the bill but one is less than half and the other hasn't replied back yet, i've already declined the blood work (CA$356) to lower the bill at the risk of possible underlying liver and kidney issues not being found but its still a monumental amount for us right now. i just feel so helpless

we had enough to pay the minimum deposit to get the procedure started in time thankfully, but we were already scraping by as it is and now we're in desperate need of funds to eat/pay rent/pay off any remainder of the bill. i am disabled without aid and have been unable to work/haven't worked since 2015 but am on track to hopefully start working pt this fall. i live with my mom who has 3-4 jobs including one seasonal job which needless to say is stressful and wearing her down. we unfortunately are stuck in the most expensive place to live in canada with the inability to save up to flee so the cycle is never ending.

this is Teddy, my typically very silly vocal happy boy who's not quite 2 yet, my comfort king, my little muffin who acts like a weighted blanket for me at night and eases my anxiety, his favourite toy is his pink unicorn poof, he loves car rides and he can shake paw!

he got a sudden urinary blockage last night with no straight answer as to why and progressively got worse as the night went on, i didnt sleep at all, i was panicking and bawling, naturally, and raced to the vet to get in as soon as the door opened. i assumed it was a uti which wouldn't have been as costly, but it turned out to be much more severe and life threatening. i never expected my usually extremely healthy boy to suddenly be at risk of that and im still trying to just process whats been happening

he needed to be sedated and given a catheter and some medication, the total bill came to CA$985.62, of which we were barely able to pay 500 of, and one program was able to donate 300 leaving a total of CA$185.62 for the bill. this, of course, leaves us scrambling for food and rent as well

i know there are a lot of fundraisers out there needing donations right now, and i really hate letting myself be so open and raw like this but even a dollar would help tremendously and i would be forever grateful for any help whatsoever, even a rb to signal boost is greatly appreciated <3

TLDR; my cat had a sudden life threatening issue and now we can't pay the full vet bill or pay for food/rent

Paypal

[wachinyeya]

In one of India’s few wildlife sanctuaries for gray wolves, a litter of 8 pups has inspired the conservation community working to protect one of the most endangered wolf subspecies.

Located in the sub-continent’s southern state of Karnataka, the Bankapur Wolf Sanctuary is home to many wildlife species, including leopards, peacocks, blackbucks, and porcupines, but it’s the Indian wolf, a small, shorthaired, subspecies, that’s the main attraction.

One of the older lineages of wolves, and genetically distinct from the yet older Himalayan wolf, around 3,000 Indian wolves remain in the country, with smaller isolated populations found in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Protected in the country since 1972, they can be found in a variety of states in the north, south, and central regions of India, in several terrain types from deserts to hills and forests.

Bankapur is merely the second nature reserve dedicated to these animals, and announcing the news of the 8 pups born in the exceedingly small reserve, Environment Minister Eshwar Khandre said credit should be given to Forest Department officials who ensured they were at ease and protected.

“The sanctuary hosts the Indian grey wolf species, and one of the wolves recently gave birth to eight pups. Typically, only 50% of the wolf pups survive, but forest officials have taken measures to ensure the safety of all the pups,” Mr. Khandre said. “The Bankapur Wolf Sanctuary now has around 35-40 wolves including the new board pups.”

[doeeyeddyke]

Lend a hand?

I technically have a job but have Very Few hours and never make even $90 a week. That's most definitely not enough to cover the bigger bills and mortgage and whatnot, let alone lunch money or grade school expenses for my siblings.

I also need to take both cats to the vet for a number of treatments, but seeing as just a general physical exam is about $100, it's just straight up not an option to take them anytime soon.

Any help and sharing is appreciated, including recommendations on the vet front for options.

ko-fi

c-app: purple0925

vmo/pp: hbm0925

[beardedmrbean]

What a good doggy

IG link for anyone interested

[feelinsmall]

Hey y’all! I never really post personal on here but I’m trying to fundraise for one of my outdoor feral cats I feed. She has an abscess and rotten teeth. Cat dental care is super expensive and on top of that I have to trap her myself too. Please share or donate if possible. Her name is Moo.

https://gofund.me/5f3fbcbb

[aquariumpacific]

How we weigh an octopus!

[thepetcares]

Car’s engine is running

Source: instagram.com

[deepfriedsharkbites]

Starting an album of "truly unbothered Delta" because *apparently* 70°F weather is too cold to be eating.

Happy flat fuck Friday!

Female American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis)

DISCLAIMER: Delta has been in captivity since she was a baby, which is why she is so docile. Alligators are occasionally rotated out to spend time in a more natural habitat down in Alligator alley. PLEASE DO NOT interact with wild alligators like this. All wild animals are unpredictable.

[nightblightowl]

Just a little Lt. Dan update.

I don’t see him as often because he sleeps the day away burrowed in his new enclosure but he’s getting along great. Does lots of foraging and storing at night. The goodest of boys. 🥹