Tortoises aren’t the type of pet that offer their owners much in the way of surprises. For the most part, tortoises spend their days crawling slowly, eating, crawling slowly, sleeping, and crawling slowly. Emergency trips to the veterinarian don’t happen often – if they happen at all.
Robert Coe and his wife Sandra of Santee, Calif., thought they had seen the last of the bees buzzing around their home after exterminators sprayed a hive in their yard. That is until later that night when Sandra noticed the family’s 1-year-old Labrador retriever wasn’t acting like herself.
Michelle and Don Juen know from experience to keep edibles out of reach of their 4-year-old Labrador retriever Rock. When he was a puppy, Rock devoured a chicken carcass he had found in the trash. Then there was the time he gobbled up Don’s one-a-day vitamins. This past Christmas Rock had his stomach pumped after he managed to find where the Juens had hidden homemade cashew brittle, peppermint bark, and a pound of packaged whole bean coffee. So it didn’t come as a surprise last month when Rock ate 23 packages of instant breakfast powder.
Pet owners visiting the beach for a day of fun and sun can anticipate the occasional safety hazard: holes in the sand, sharp pieces of driftwood or jagged shells, trash, etc. Unfortunately, after a recent experience with their 2-year-old Westie/poodle mix, Ranger, Brace and Janet Rohrer can add stinging Portuguese man o’ wars to their list.
Sometimes you get the stick, and sometimes the stick gets you. That’s what Kirsten Myers of Menlo Park, Calif., learned late last year during a game of fetch with her 6-year-old Labrador retriever Phoenix.
When Jacquelin and Lance Throneberry moved to Australia last year on a two-year business assignment, the couple feared their Jack Russell terriers might have violent encounters with some of the region’s poisonous snakes and cane toads. Until recently, carnivorous lizards did not top their list of pet health concerns.
Put pets and small children under one roof and the question becomes when, not if, someone is going to eat something they shouldn’t. In Jaime Springer’s case, that someone was Roscoe, a 3-year-old standard poodle who ingested two plastic baby bottles and a wet diaper.
Pal, the 3-year-old Vizsla, loves to roam the many acres of undeveloped land next to his home. The sporting dog tracks and hunts anything that moves: small animals, insects and, unfortunately, golf carts.
Most dogs are content to simply bark at the mailman, but not Aubie. Upon delivery of his owner’s mail, the 1-year-old Border collie chose to make his presence known by running full-speed into and through a closed window.
While most cats hate water, Sandy the Abysinnian would probably agree that wetter is better than being stuck in a dryer.
While it may not be the safest practice,car chasing is a hobby many dogs, including 3-year-old boxer Jojo, seem to enjoy.Catching a car, however, is pretty much never a pleasant experience for a dog, especially when that car is a several ton delivery truck.