Animal

VA hospitals are integrating service dogs into traditional treatment plans – 06/30/2009
By Associated Press

FORT CARSON, Colo. - Army Specialist Cameron Briggs washes down a cocktail of prescription drugs every day for post-traumatic stress disorder and a brain injury he suffered when four roadside bombs rocked his Humvee in Iraq.Tramadol for pain. Midrin for debilitating headaches. Minipress to suppress nightmares. Klonopin to control anger and anxiety.His next dose of treatment will come from an unlikely source: a purebred Golden Retriever.A new Veterans Administration program adopts dogs from anima...
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So Cute – 08/08/2009
By Youtube

This video is absolutely adorable.  These two buddies are holding hands as they float around.  A must see. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epUk3T2Kfno ...
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Man's Best Friend Brings Safety to a Childhood Plagued by a Severe Food Allergy – 03/02/2009
By NEAL KARLINSKY

Riley Mers and her Portuguese water dog Rock'O seem like any ordinary pair, but nothing about this 8-year-old girl and her pet is ordinary. "It might look to you like it's a kid playing with a dog," said Riley's mother, Sherry Mers. "To me, that's a dog that's saving my daughter's life while they're playing."Riley's peanut allergy is so severe that if the Monument, Colo., girl even touches something with peanut residue it is enough to send her to the hospital."I got a pe...
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Carbon-fiber dorsal fin allows her to glide gracefully with other turtles – 04/08/2009
By Christopher Sherman

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas - Allison, a green sea turtle with only one flipper, has been going around and around and around for most of her life.But swimming in tight circles is tough for a 5-year-old turtle whose life expectancy is about 150 years.Allison was set straight Wednesday, when researchers outfitted her in a black neoprene suit with a carbon-fiber dorsal fin on the back that allows her to glide gracefully with other turtles."That's a sea turtle doing what a sea turtle does," ...
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Fluffy somehow survived for about three months despite coyotes, foxes – 12/02/2008
By Associated Press

BOZEMAN, Mont. - A cat lost in Yellowstone National Park in August has been returned to her family in Houston with the help of some West Yellowstone residents. Philip Wattenbarger and his family were camping in a trailer in the West Yellowstone area when their long-haired tabby, Fluffy, went missing on Aug. 1.Elizabeth Ayers said the family figured the cat had been caught by a coyote. Her three young daughters, 6-year-old twins Tamara and Evelyn and 8-year-old Marisa, were sad about losing the c...
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A man with emphysema says his cat can sense when he's going to have a breathing attack and wakes him so he can forestall the event with medication. – 01/12/2009
By The Associated Press

ALBANY, Ore. — Charles Bennett is convinced Blackie the cat has a sixth sense — he knows ahead of time when Bennett will wake up gasping for breath."I've tested this with him, and so I know it's true," said the 72-year-old retired engineering consultant, who suffers with emphysema. It happens too often to be a coincidence, he says.Bennett doesn't know what the cat hears or senses but often between 3 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. he awakens at his Albany home as the former stray licks ...
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Is it puppy love? – 08/08/2009
By Youtube

Watch as this heroic dog pulls a dog to safety off a busy highway in Chile.  It's amazing.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofpYRITtLSg  ...
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Rocco’s owner is now 11; ‘I was scared I’d never see him again,’ she says – 07/16/2008
By Bob Considine, TODAYShow.com contributor

Five years ago, a heartbroken 5-year-old girl from Queens, N.Y., was hanging posters for the return of her lost beagle. Today, after years of wishes, little Natalie Villacis has been miraculously reunited with her beloved dog Rocco after he resurfaced some 850 miles away in Georgia — proving that every dog owner can have their day.“I was actually scared that I was never going to see him again,” the now 11-year-old Natalie told TODAY’s Ann Curry on Wednesday. “I lite...
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Muslims view dogs as unclean, but tiny horse offers freedom to 28-year-old – 04/10/2009
By Ben Leubsdorf

DEARBORN, Mich. - Seeing-eye dogs are a nonstarter among many Muslims who consider the animals unclean, but a horse the size of a dog just might work."This is a really awesome little horse," Mona Ramouni said this week as she put Cali, a 3-year-old miniature horse, through her paces and rode the bus to work with her for the first time.Ramouni lost her sight to retinopathy — damage to the retina — that is a frequent side effect of premature birth. Until now, she has relied o...
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These are too cute – 08/08/2009
By Youtube

Need a quick pick-me-up?  Click on the following link to see some adorable animal pictures.  It will definitely brighten your day!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYLsyNBnE5M   ...
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