Category Archives: Pets

Stinging deaths, back yard poisons and billions spent: model predicts Australia’s fire ants future

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Exclusive: Cost blow-out has experts worried people will use ‘huge’ volumes of pesticides to protect themselves from ‘tiny killers’

Australian households will spend $1.03bn every year to suppress fire ants and cover related medical and veterinary costs, with about 570,800 people needing medical attention and 30 likely deaths from the invasive pest’s stings, new modelling shows.

The Australia Institute research breaks down the impact of red imported fire ants (Rifa) by electorate, with the seats of Durack and O’Connor in Western Australia, Mayo in South Australia and Blair in Queensland the hardest hit if the ants become endemic.

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Blair: $1.7m in medical costs, $1.5m in vet costs and $5.1m in household pesticide costs.

Dickson: $1.4m in medical costs, $1.2m in vet costs and $4m in household pesticide costs.

Ryan: $1.5m in medical costs, $1.3m in vet costs and $3.4m in household pesticide costs.

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‘Don’t underestimate cats’: Los Angeles feline uses up one of nine lives surviving wildfire

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Katherine Kiefer lost her home to the Palisades wildfire, but her crafty kitty, Aggie, somehow lived through the disaster

It appears the tall tale that all cats have nine lives may be true for a California Maine coon named Aggie.

The beloved feline was feared dead for two months after the Palisades wildfire in Los Angeles left her family’s home in ashes. But her owner, 82-year-old Katherine Kiefer, held out some hope.

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Custody spat over New Orleans escape-artist dog settled with visitation agreement

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Scrim the tramp terrier, known for his many getaways, now has a home and an extended family to look over him

Calling King Solomon.

The wiry terrier named Scrim who had virtually all of New Orleans looking for him while he spent most of the previous year on the run – enduring a hurricane, a historic snowfall and other perils – landed in the middle of an adoption controversy among those who recently brought him to heel again and then wanted to keep him.

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Doctor faces inquiry after giving his cat a Cat scan at Italian hospital

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Italian radiologist, who says injured pet was ‘between life and death’, also operated on animal at Aosta facility

An Italian doctor has been placed under investigation after giving his cat a Cat scan at a hospital in Aosta before performing a life-saving operation on the feline.

Gianluca Fanelli took the animal, called Athena, to Umberto Parini hospital in the northern Italian region, where he is a manager of the radiology unit, after she fell from a roof.

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Scientists explore longevity drugs for dogs that could also ‘extend human life’

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Researchers say drugs may be able to increase lifespan by extending health and thus shortening the rate of ageing

Not for nothing are dogs called man’s best friend: they are good for their owners’ mental and physical health, and some studies have shown that if you’re looking for a date and want to seem more attractive, it might be time to get a canine companion.

So what would it be like if dogs could live for ever – and what if that secret could help their owners live longer, healthier lives too?

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Tiger among 20 cats to die of bird flu at sanctuary in Washington state

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Bengal tiger, cougars, a lynx and bobcats dead as disease spreads rapidly among US poultry flocks and dairy herds

Twenty exotic cats, including a Bengal tiger, four cougars, a lynx and four bobcats, have died after contracting bird flu at an animal sanctuary in Shelton, Washington.

The feline deaths come as bird flu, a highly pathogenic avian influenza, has spread rapidly through poultry flocks and dairy herds in the US, infected and killed domestic cats, and caused a severe illness in a person in Louisiana.

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UK ministers support bill to crack down on puppy smuggling

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Bill aims to strengthen animal welfare by closing legal loopholes around imports of dogs, cats and ferrets

The government has thrown its weight behind a bill to crack down on puppy smuggling as part of a commitment to strengthening animal welfare.

Ministers announced on Friday that they were supporting a private member’s bill sponsored by Danny Chambers, a Liberal Democrat MP and veterinary surgeon, to crack down on the pet-smuggling trade.

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UK sales of seasonal pet treats, toys and food rocketing

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Sales of Christmas pet lines up 964% year-on-year at Waitrose online as people spend more on pet care

Unlike buying a present for a fussy father-in-law or an awkward aunt, a dog won’t complain if their treats aren’t the latest, and a cat is not likely to turn its nose up at a Christmas tree-shaped scratch tree.

Perhaps that’s why Britons are so happy to spend on their pets this Christmas, with sales of seasonal pet treats, toys and food booming.

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Molly the magpie’s owners have licence for Instagram star revoked by Queensland supreme court

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Wildlife group claims win as environment department says granting licence for bird was ‘an error’

A magpie made famous on social media may again be separated from his canine friends after a special carers’ licence was revoked.

The supreme court overturned the licence just months after it was granted to Molly the magpie’s Gold Coast rescue family that includes his best mates, dogs Peggy and Ruby.

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Dog who fell 50ft down abandoned mine shaft rescued by California firefighters

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Firefighter was lowered into shaft and dog, who was ‘a good sport’, was ‘secured and raised out’, authorities said

Firefighters fetched a dog from an abandoned mine shaft in northern California after it fell 50ft.

Firefighters were called around 3.40am last Thursday to a mine located in El Dorado county, roughly 68 miles east of Sacramento.

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New Hampshire animal shelter struggles to house 1,000 mice

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A man surrendered his rodents recently, and now the shelter is grappling with a rapidly multiplying mouse problem

A New Hampshire animal shelter is grappling with how to handle nearly 1,000 mice that have been turned over in recent days, many of which are pregnant.

Lisa Dennison, executive director of the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, called the situation “crippling” and said the organization is scrambling to care for an overwhelming influx of rapidly reproducing rodents.

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Dog owners warned about boom in ticks on Australia’s east coast after last year’s hot, wet summer

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Expert reminds owners ‘freeze it, don’t squeeze it’ when it comes to a tick, ideally with a tick-freezing spray from a chemist

Dog owners have been warned about a tick boom unfolding along Australia’s east coast, with some experts predicting an unusually bad season for furry friends.

Veterinary scientist and parasitologist Peter Irwin, an emeritus professor at Murdoch University, said the severity of a tick season was largely determined by the preceding weather, and last summer had been very hot and wet along the east coast”.

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Monty Don’s first Chelsea garden will be dog-friendly

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Gardeners’ World presenter is bucking the trend to make the event more inclusive

Some gardeners at the Chelsea Flower Show may balk at the idea of a dog scrabbling around near their prize roses.

But Monty Don is designing his first Chelsea garden for next year’s event – and making it dog-friendly.

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NSW to help renters avoid added app fees and make it easier to keep a pet

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Landlords will have to offer convenient ways to avoid extra charges when paying the rent

New South Wales renters will no longer be made to pay extra fees when they pay the rent and will have greater rights to keep a pet in a suite of reforms to be announced on Monday.

The state government plans to introduce legislation to modernise the state’s rental regulation into parliament in October.

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Cat that comforts trafficked women in London safe house is feline of the year

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Marley, whose ‘incredible gift of empathy’ is said to help exploited women, beats thousands of cats to prize

A cat that offers comfort to trafficked women has been named cat of the year at a national ceremony.

Marley, a black and white cat who lives at a safe house for women who have been enslaved, exploited and trafficked, won the award because of his “gift of empathy”.

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Ohio city hall bomb threat explicitly hostile to Haitians, Springfield mayor says

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Thursday’s bomb threat came after Trump repeated unfounded rumor that immigrants were ‘eating the pets’

The mayor of Springfield, Ohio, has said that the bomb threat made on Thursday that forced the evacuation of the city hall, two schools, and other buildings was explicitly anti-immigrant and hostile to the city’s Haitian community, following Donald Trump’s stoking of a rightwing conspiracy theory that some residents’ pets are being eaten.

Rob Rue, the mayor, accused national Republicans who are amplifying wild rumors from a far-right provocateur that Haitian immigrants in Springfield are hunting and eating other people’s pets of “hurting our city”.

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Starmer leads with compromise for new family pet – and gets ‘dog-like’ cat

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Siberian kitten at No 10 may get frosty reception from chief mouser Larry, who took on George Osborne’s cat, Freya

On the face of it, the kitten that joined Keir Starmer’s family appears to have had a peaceful first week at an address where feline and human rivals have been known to get their claws out.

The arrival of the Siberian cat – as yet unnamed in public – was revealed on Monday by the prime minister, who said his children had been pushing for a dog to join them at Downing Street.

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Buying puppies from unknown sources ‘devastating’ to welfare, Kennel Club says

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Survey found almost a third of UK dog owners spent less than a day researching the breeder

Would-be dog owners are buying puppies with little thought, effort or research, the UK’s leading dog breeding organisation has said, warning that convenience culture is having a “devastating” effect on puppy welfare.

According to research by the Kennel Club, almost a third (29%) of dog owners in the UK spent less than a day researching their decision and the breeder.

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Vets extend strike in first industrial action to hit Britain’s pet-care sector

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Staff at a practice in Wales have accused its private-equity-backed owner of poor pay and overcharging customers

Staff working at a chain of commercial vet surgeries have extended their strike, accusing their private-equity-backed owner of underpaying workers and overcharging pet owners as part of the first industrial action to hit the veterinary sector in the UK.

Unionised vets, nurses and support staff at Valley Vets in south Wales, which is owned by one of the largest veterinary corporations in the country, VetPartners, decided last week to stay out until the end of the month, in the latest move in an increasingly bitter dispute.

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‘Delicate, authentic, charismatic’: Dolce & Gabbana launches €99 dog perfume

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Italian brand makes first foray into pet scents – but RSPCA warns against such products as dogs rely on sense of smell

If the axiom that a dog is man’s best friend holds any credence, Dolce & Gabbana has now elevated it with the introduction of its latest perfume: a mist for dogs.

But the RSPCA has warned against messing with dogs’ sense of smell by giving them their own fragrance, warning the odour could come across as unpleasant for them – and hamper their ability to connect with their surroundings.

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