Animals, Pets | featured news

Citing inhumane and unsanitary practices, lawmakers want to regulate online pet sales. The current law allows breeders who sell puppies online to escape all health and safety requirements.

"This second hypothesis says that when we settled down, and in conjunction with the development of agriculture, we produced waste dumps around our settlements; and suddenly there was this new food resource, a new niche, for wolves to make use of, and the wolf that was best able to make use of it became the ancestor of the dog," explained Erik Axelsson from Uppsala University.

600 in the area have joined the new City Dog Share pack, which matches up pet owners with others eager to help them out when needed. Other places are also sniffing out the idea.

Babies who spend their first year in homes with dogs have fewer colds and ear infections and need fewer antibiotics than babies in pet-free homes, a new study from Finland shows. Babies who live with cats also seem to have a health advantage, but it's not as big.

A man's 275-pound pet cougar escaped from its cage and killed a neighbor's dog before being recaptured.

Americans spent $50.96 billion on their pets in 2011. That's an all-time high and the first time in history more than $50 billion has gone to the dogs, cats, canaries, guppies and the like, the American Pet Products Association said in a report issued Thursday.

Frank and Louie the cat was born with two faces, two mouths, two noses, three eyes - and lots of doubts about his future. Now, 12 years after Marty Stevens rescued him from being put to sleep because of his condition, the exotic blue-eyed rag doll cat is not only thriving but has made it into the 2012 Guinness Book of World Records as the longest surviving member of a group known as Janus cats, named for a Roman god with two faces.

Avoid common errors, and keep your four-legged pal healthy and well-behaved.

The team behind Diapers.com has made a new e-commerce site aimed at the other baby in the American household: the family pet. Quidsi, which is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amazon.com, is announcing Wednesday the launch of Wag.com, an e-commerce site selling pet-related products.

Behold the "bionic dog." (View video, below.) At just five weeks old, Naki'o was abandoned by his owners and wandered into an icy puddle, getting his paws stuck in the frigid water. All four frostbit paws had to be amputated, but in a "heartwarming" twist, the malnourished red heeler puppy was rescued by an animal shelter where, a veterinary technician raised funds to fit him with two prosthetic hind legs. Naki'o took to the prosthetics so "enthusiastically" that the organization Orthopets threw in the other two prosthetics for free. "Naki'o can now not only chase after a ball with other dogs," says vet tech Christie Tomlinson, as quoted by Incredible Features, "but he can beat them to the catch!"