Cheetah and dog are best buddies at Dallas zoo

Pet information
Image from dallasnews.com
Image from dallasnews.com

A cheetah and a dog might not be the first combination that comes to mind when thinking about animal friends, but at Dallas zoo, Winspear the Cheetah and Amani the black Lab are best friends. A few days ago they celebrated their first birthday – they are born just two days apart and have been raised together.

Labradors are generally cheerful, outgoing, and curious. Amani is not an exception, and his personality is a polar opposite to the shy and cautious cheetah. Their handlers say this is part of the winning formula.

Amani’s outgoing personality makes Winspear feel confident and safe, and together they travel to schools, hospitals, and other events to educate people about wildlife.

For their birthday celebration, they got a 200 pound popsicle created by zoo nutrition specialists. It contained canned milk, low-sodium chicken broth, and ice.

 

Blind dog gets vision back and can see his family

Pet information

Duffy is an Irish Terrier who lost his vision because of diabetes. He went from a happy and normal dog to completely blind within a few months and had problems adjusting.

Duffy ran into things, couldn’t recognize his humans, and when his diabetes became stable enough for surgery, the family decided to take the chance. Luckily, the surgeons succeeded, and the family filmed being reunited with him. The video has gone viral and has 4,5 million views this far.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og1nMDl1K7g

Guide dog makes it into middle school’s year book

Pet information

Hector Gracia Middle School’s yearbook is a little different this year; it features Taxi Benke, a seizure alert service dog.

Image from today.com
Image from today.com

Taxi looks out for his human, 14-year old Rachel, and predicts her epileptic seizures. He attends class with Rachel every day and can sense problems up to an hour and a half before something happens.

Taxi has been with Rachel for the last four years and prevented her from drowning at several occasions. When he senses a seizure coming up, he can alert her family and teachers, and he orients herself to break her fall.

Read more on today.com.

Cattle dog watches over disabled kitten

Pet information

Ralphee is an adorable kitten with feline cerebellar hypoplasia. Those big words translate into, “neurological disorder that affects motor skills.” It shows in jerky and uncoordinated movements.

Many cats with this condition falls often and has trouble walking. They also suffer tremors. The condition can come from a bacterial or viral infection, malnutrition, poisoning, injury, or an accident. The cat can learn to compensate for the disease, and can live a fairly normal life with a normal life span.

When it comes to Ralphee, he is lucky. He was rescued from a horse stable, and now he has his very own cattle dog to look after him. Love and caring really spans the species. Ralphee might not have the physical grace of many other kittens, but he is cute as a button, healthy, and filled with mischief.

//youtu.be/f31m5-5-xUY

Sunshine story: Lost boy protected by family dog

Pet information

A three year old boy in North Dakota recently wandered off the family’s yard and was missing for nearly seven hours together with Cooper, the family dog. According to Yahoo News the fire department, local police, and 200 neighbors searched for hours. The situation seemed desperate when even an airplane and 60 four-wheelers couldn’t find a trace of the missing couple.

Just as authorities were about to call off the search for the night, one four-wheeler went for one last sweep of the property, and they found young Carson safe and snug underneath the dog, who protected him against the cold night.

The working theory is that Carson saw his father leave and wanted to follow, so he walked off. Yahoo news reports that Cooper never leaves the yard, but when Carson took off, Cooper followed.

Cooper is a mix of German Shepherd, Labrador, and Golden Retriever. The family adopted him three years ago after someone left him by the side of the road.

//youtu.be/Ds8dj2NbHNs

A happy family reunion

Pet information

Every pet lover fears their pets going missing. If it happens during a storm or natural disaster it’s even worse; the community as a whole is rocked, and loss of home and property is difficult to deal with. Sometimes, the stories have unexpected happy endings.

Reckless is a mixed breed dog who got out of his New Jersey family’s back yard during monster storm Sandy back in 2012. They searched for months, called shelters, and did everything you’re supposed to do when losing a pet. Reckless did not turn up.

Months passed by and as the family got used to living in a hotel as their home is being repaired, they slowly gave up hope on seeing their dog again.

Last week they decided to surprise their daughter through getting a new dog. When they headed to the Monmouth county SPCA, a surprise awaited in the first cage: Reckless.

The family is finally reunited, and we hope they can return to their home soon.

Sunshine story; police officer adopts five deaf dogs

Pet information

A Virginia Detective, Mac Adams, has been involved with rescuing deaf dogs since 2010 when he adopted his dog Pickles from the Richmond Animal Care and Control. Since then, he has gotten four more; Nea, Piglet, Opal, and Mortimer.

Detective Mac Adams with his five deaf dogs. Photo from Facebook

Adams says there are 56 breeds of dogs prone to deafness. The puppies are born deaf and don’t know they’re supposed to hear, but it can be an obstacle in first figuring out a means of communication. Once the connection is made he thinks they pay a lot more attention to their person than hearing dogs, and might even be easier to train because they’re not distracted by sounds around them.

Four of the deaf dogs in the Adams’ household are Pitbulls, and he works on educating people about the breed. He says they are a great breed, generally gentle, calm, and good natured, but used for nefarious purposes by a small potion of the population.

Read more about Mac Adams and his dogs in this article on dogheirs.com.