All posts tagged: pet

This New Health-Tracking Pet Collar Is Like a Smartwatch for Dogs and Cats

This New Health-Tracking Pet Collar Is Like a Smartwatch for Dogs and Cats

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Our pets can’t speak up and tell us how they’re feeling, or why and where they are hiding. Tractive, an Austria- and Seattle-based tech company that creates GPS tracking devices for pets, announced on Wednesday two new smart collars that, according to the press release, “will redefine pet care for millions of families.” Is your pet stressed, breathing unusually or scratching too much? Much like the basic health-tracking features you can find on a smartwatch, the collars — the Cat 6 Mini ($79) and Dog 6 XL ($89) — are designed to track this behavior and communicate the issues to help maintain your dog or cat’s quality of life. “Pets can’t tell us when something is wrong, but their bodies can,” Michael Hurnaus, CEO and founder of Tractive, said in a statement. “With cutting-edge sensors on every tracker, learnings from millions of pets and AI-powered insights, we’re turning one of the world’s largest pet data platforms into clear, simple information so pet parents can act sooner and care even better.” When it comes to tracking collars, …

Man killed girlfriend’s pet rabbit, Momo, tossing him from second-floor window, authorities say

Man killed girlfriend’s pet rabbit, Momo, tossing him from second-floor window, authorities say

Published by Sam Flores

A North Hollywood man has been charged with animal cruelty and domestic violence offenses for allegedly killing his girlfriend’s two-month-old rabbit during a violent outburst in February. Nikolas Hart, 25, allegedly stomped on the rabbit, Momo, then stuffed him in a trash bag and threw him from the couple’s second-story apartment on Feb. 11, according to a news release from the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. The rabbit died from blunt force trauma to his chest, abdomen and face, prosecutors said. Hart also assaulted his girlfriend on previous occasions, according to the district attorney’s office. He was arraigned Monday and pleaded not guilty to one felony count of animal cruelty, one misdemeanor charge each of injury to a spouse or cohabitant and attempting to dissuade a victim or witness, and three counts of disobeying a court order to not contact the victim. A judge set bail at $150,000 and issued a protective order prohibiting Hart from having any animals in his care. Hart is next due in court April 16. If convicted on all …

The pet I’ll never forget: Beau, the labrador who saved my life

The pet I’ll never forget: Beau, the labrador who saved my life

Published by Sam Flores

When I lost my wife, Jo, to cancer eight years ago, I knew it was time for a fresh start, so I packed up my London home and moved to Poole on the Dorset coast. I longed for a companion, so I welcomed a labrador puppy into my life, naming him Beau in a nod to the time Jo and I had spent living in France. A gun dog from Derbyshire with a sleek black coat and deep brown eyes, Beau was an adorable and mischievous puppy who kept me on my toes right from the start. When he was six months old, he rummaged in a fisherman’s bucket and swallowed a fishing line and hook. Thankfully, it came out the other end, narrowly avoiding surgery. Beau fits perfectly into my outdoor lifestyle. He comes sailing and paddleboarding with me and sits patiently on the shore when I go for my daily sea swims, running around excitedly when I emerge from the water, spraying sand everywhere. It was after one of these sea swims that …

Shame of mass pet adandonment with nearly 500 alerts in Midlands

Shame of mass pet adandonment with nearly 500 alerts in Midlands

Published by Sam Flores

Britain’s biggest animal charity has urged families to consider adopting a pet after revealing its rescue sites were “overwhelmed”. The RSPCA said a huge rise in mass abandonments – involving ten or more animals at once – had partly fuelled the crisis. Such incidents have rocketed by nearly 70 per cent in just four years. Last year, it responded to 4,200 incidents involving at least ten animals at the same address across England and Wales – including 493 in the West Midlands. READ MORE: New Birmingham Metro extension opening on Easter Sunday And it said rising cruelty and neglect led to a six-year high of animals in RSPCA care, with almost half in emergency boarding because centres were full. RSPCA Superintendent Jo Hirst said: “We are struggling with rising reports of cruelty and neglect and over recent years more and more of those reports will involve ten, 20, even 100 animals. And because they’ve been living in large groups, they may need more support until they are ready to find a new home. “We currently …

Pet owners: have you used an animal fitness tracker?

Pet owners: have you used an animal fitness tracker?

Published by Sam Flores

With a growing number of pet fitness trackers on the market, owners can monitor the stats of their companions as never before. But these devices can be costly, and their necessity is debated. We want to hear from owners of dogs, cats or other pets who have tried these trackers to hear if such health monitors have proved useful, neutral or problematic. Share your experience You can tell us your experience using this form. Your responses, which can be anonymous, are secure as the form is encrypted and only the Guardian has access to your contributions. We will only use the data you provide us for the purpose of the feature and we will delete any personal data when we no longer require it for this purpose. For alternative ways to get in touch securely please see our tips guide. Tell us your experience of pet fitness trackers. Did it prove useful, neutral or problematic? Please include as much detail as possible. If you are happy to, please upload a photo of yourself here Optional …

UK pet owners: we would like to hear about your experience of vet bills

UK pet owners: we would like to hear about your experience of vet bills

Published by Sam Flores

The UK’s competition watchdog has ordered vets to cap prescription fees at £21 and proposed a cost-comparison website. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said public satisfaction with the cost of services was “low” after a two-and-a-half-year investigation that found “there is not strong competition between veterinary businesses”. It said vets must now tell pet owners that medicines may be cheaper online, and let them know they can get a prescription and that this could save them money. We would like to hear from UK pet owners about their experience of vet bills. Did your vet bill come as a surprise, or was it as expected? How did you manage the cost? Tell us. Share your experience You can tell us your experience using this form. Your responses, which can be anonymous, are secure as the form is encrypted and only the Guardian has access to your contributions. We will only use the data you provide us for the purpose of the feature and we will delete any personal data when we no longer require …

The pet I’ll never forget: Harriet, the hedgehog in my airing cupboard

The pet I’ll never forget: Harriet, the hedgehog in my airing cupboard

Published by Sam Flores

Harriet came into my life when I asked my vet if I could get a hedgehog to come and live in my garden and deal with the slugs. She found me Harriet in Tiggywinkles, a Buckinghamshire-based wildlife hospital. Harriet was rather shy. I brought her home in a cardboard box and put it on the ground, on its side. She poked her nose out and, as soon as she saw me, scuttled off to hide in a corner of the garden. Harriet settled in well and did her job efficiently, eating all the slugs. She slept in an old compost bag in the garden, to which I added some dried leaves to make a bed for her. One day, sitting on the sofa with my legs stretched out, I felt something touching my bare toes. It was Harriet, examining them. She had come in through the cat flap. She ran off when I moved, and I thought no more about it, until a few nights later, in the early hours, I heard an awful noise …

Owners from Great Britain travelling to EU warned over pet passport ‘dodge’

Owners from Great Britain travelling to EU warned over pet passport ‘dodge’

Published by Sam Flores

British pet owners who want to take their furry friends elsewhere in Europe have been warned not to try to dodge expensive health certificates by using a pet passport issued abroad. Before Brexit, taking a cat, dog or ferret to the EU was relatively simple: the Pet Travel Scheme meant an animal needed a microchip, vaccination against rabies, a pet passport and, for dogs, there were also requirements concerning tapeworm treatment. But since 2021 the process has become more cumbersome – and expensive – with the pet passport component replaced by the animal health certificate (AHC). This document must be issued within the 10 days before entry to the EU and is valid for four months for onward travel within the EU and re-entry to Great Britain. A slightly simpler process involving a pet travel document is in place for travel from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. Pet passports can still be issued to owners resident in Northern Ireland. However, social media sites including Reddit and Facebook are replete with pet owners reporting that they …

Man threw daughter’s pet kittens off Twickenham bridge | UK | News

Man threw daughter’s pet kittens off Twickenham bridge | UK | News

Published by Sam Flores

The man tipped the kitten from the box into the water from Twickenham bridge (Image: Getty) A father who drunkenly threw his daughter’s pet kittens into the River Thames, declaring “let them die”, has been spared jail. Andrew Shephard was helping his daughter rehome the three young cats when he tipped them from a box into the water from Twickenham bridge, in south-west London, last November. As he did, he could be heard shouting “let them die” and “I want them to die”, Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court heard on Tuesday. JPs were told the 59-year-old – who previously pleaded guilty to three counts of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal – had said he did not know “what came over me”.  Read more: 15 hospital staff members arrested over assault, neglect and rape allegations Read more: UK park shut down after ‘girl sexually assaulted’ as teen boy arrested During his sentencing hearing, prosecutor Manisha Kukadia told the court that the police were called to “reports of a male throwing cats into the River Thames”. The …

Teacher’s Pet | Regina Marler

Teacher’s Pet | Regina Marler

Published by José Betancourt

In an interview with Taylor Lewandowski in Bomb magazine last year, Jane DeLynn described her autobiographical novel In Thrall as “almost historical now.” Originally published in 1982 and recently reissued, it is based on DeLynn’s high school affair with her closeted English teacher in early 1960s Manhattan. The book can be seen as the first in a trilogy about sex and transgression, along with two of DeLynn’s later novels, Don Juan in the Village (1990) and Leash (2002). The evolution of gay rights across this period alters the assumptions of each book so markedly that they might be set in different centuries rather than different decades. But the trilogy’s underlying subject—the relentless self-consciousness of DeLynn’s first-person narrators—never wavers. Each is a lesbian Prufrock, preparing her face to meet the faces that she meets. Lynn, the sixteen-year-old main character of In Thrall, may not be the only student at her single-sex Upper East Side public school with a crush on the charismatic Miss Maxfeld, but she feels confused and anxious, convinced that she alone harbors a …