Horses! and pets/animals other than cats and dogs

[Azastan]

One of my friends is now fortunate enough to be riding Endo.

[RTH10260]

Officials: Colorado firm's alfalfa cubes may kill horses

Sun, December 18, 2022 at 1:06 AM GMT+1

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — State and federal officials are warning horse owners not to feed their animals Top of the Rockies brand alfalfa cubes after nearly 100 horses developed neurologic illnesses — 45 of which have died or been euthanized.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued the warning Saturday. The agency said it's working with state agriculture departments in Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico and Texas to investigate the horse deaths.

Manzanola Feeds of Manzanola, Colorado, recalled the cubes Friday. The company warns that certain batches may contain bacteria that cause botulism, a fatal paralytic disease. The FDA said more testing is ongoing to confirm the causes of reported illnesses.

The company directly distributed products to stores in 10 states including Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin. The FDA warns the cubes may have been sold in other states as well.

Symptoms include dizziness, trouble with vocalizing or swallowing, difficulty breathing, muscle weakness, abdominal distension and constipation. Anyone who fed the cubes to horses or observes symptoms should immediately contact a veterinarian.

Some cubes have been reported to contain what appears to be fur and animal tissues, which may have been ground up during alfalfa harvesting. Botulism-causing bacteria is found in decaying animal carcasses.




https://news.yahoo.com/officials-colora ... 08958.html

[Azastan]

A vaccine for botulism (Type B) is available for horses, but it is not a core vaccine, so most owners don't get it for their horses. Botulism has several strains. Types A, B, and C are the only types which have been found in the United States, but there are also Types D through H.

If it *is* caught soon enough, the cure is time, and supportive care. Anti-toxin is administered, and the vaccine for Type B is given. The survival rate can be as low as 10 per cent in adult horses. A horse may be in a veterinary hospital for up to 90 days.

Sadly, most people in the area where the cubes were sold would not have had botulism as their first thought because botulism mimics a lot of diseases, and the vaccine is a risk based vaccine, with the risk factor being geographically based (normally in the southern states).

One of my horses has had low grade colic symptoms twice now within a month, and the second time the colic occurred my vet and I discussed this as a possible cause for the symptoms (this was before the news about the hay cubes had come out), although it was immediately discounted. We're thinking possible mycotoxin poisoning, but not botulism, since she had elevated liver enzymes.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

I notified all my horse friends about the cubes. Thanks for posting it, RTH!

[FiveAcres]

I found half of a dead rabbit in a bale of grass hay once many years ago, and threw out the whole bale due to the risk of toxins. It was probably a minimal risk, but I didn't want to chance it.

[Azastan]

I notified all my horse friends about the cubes. Thanks for posting it, RTH!

Also let them know that for some reason, horses are the species most susceptible to botulism poisoning, and if they even *think* their horse/s has gotten fed possibly contaminated alfalfa cubes to contact their vet immediately if their horse seems even a bit off. Time is a critical factor with botulism poisoning in horses.

[Azastan]

I found half of a dead rabbit in a bale of grass hay once many years ago, and threw out the whole bale due to the risk of toxins. It was probably a minimal risk, but I didn't want to chance it.

Probably, but better safe than sorry. I once had a bale of teff from eastern Oregon which had the partial leg bone of a deer baled in it, presumably from careless hunters gutting their deer in the teff field. I dumped the bale.

[Foggy]

Never heard of teff, a species of lovegrass native to the Horn of Africa.

It is so cool, the things you learn on this forum. I learn something worthwhile every dang day around this place.

[Azastan]

Never heard of teff, a species of lovegrass native to the Horn of Africa.

It is so cool, the things you learn on this forum. I learn something worthwhile every dang day around this place.

Teff is a specialty hay. It's really low in sugar (grass can be really high in sugar. Sugar cane is a grass variety!), so it's used for horses with Cushings or insulin resistance.

But here is your other factoid for the day.

Ever eaten at an Ethiopian restaurant and been served injera? Injera is made from the seeds of teff. The seeds are very, very small, I can't imagine the work it takes to make injera from teff seed.

And here's your last factoid: teff seed has virtually no gluten, so injera is prepared like a sourdough, by fermentation.

[Foggy]

Ever eaten at an Ethiopian restaurant and been served injera?

I think so. At the second big Fogbow in-person meetup, in our nation's capital in October 2010, Tes organized a dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant, and we did eat a lot of flatbread. But when I look at images of injera online, the bread is brown in color, and I have a distinct memory of the Ethiopian flatbread we had that night as being almost bright green. Very green. Green green. But it was flatbread in an Ethiopian restaurant, so I imagine in was injera.

And here's your last factoid: teff seed has virtually no gluten, so injera is prepared like a sourdough, by fermentation.

I don't avoid gluten. Some of my best friends are gluten.

[Azastan]

...Ethiopian flatbread we had that night as being almost bright green. Very green. Green green. But it was flatbread in an Ethiopian restaurant, so I imagine in was injera.

Injera does come in different colours, but I've never heard of it being bright green! Perhaps it was St Patrick's Day?

[Foggy]

Nope, October. I remember it was green, but realist and Phoenix520 were there, if they have a different memory then I'd go with theirs.

I actually thought it was pretty cool, tasty flatbread that was green. We had a really wonderful night that night, and the all-Ethiopian staff thought it was great that we were there because we didn't think Obama was born in Kenya. "He wasn't born in Ethiopia, either."

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/its-a ... r-AA15qq0Q

'It's a nightmare:' Iguana causes power outage in Florida town for third time this year

The outage impacted about 1,400 customers in Lake Worth Beach in Palm County, city spokesman Ben Kerr told CNN. The power was restored within 35 minutes, according to a tweet from the city.

“Every utility agency in Florida deals with this. It’s a nightmare,” Kerr said about the animal-caused outages. “It’s happened three times this year because of iguanas” in Lake Worth Beach, he said. “That’s down 50% from last year.”

Kerr attributed the reduction in the incidents to added safety measures at substations. He said the city is actively working on improvement projects to mitigate the iguana outages.

Iguanas are extremely adept climbers and have large bodies – a combination which makes the reptile a bigger threat to electrical equipment than birds or squirrels, according to Kerr.

“Unlike birds, the tail and sheer size of iguanas” allows them to make a connection between two parts of the electrical system, he said. This was likely the cause of the latest outage, he added.

[RTH10260]

re-visiting the panda cub

[RTH10260]

Chomper, beloved alligator who lived at MS Coast nursery his entire life, dies at 64

Justin Mitchell
Tue, December 27, 2022 at 11:58 PM GMT+1

A beloved alligator who lived his entire life at the site that is now Pine Hills Nursery in Pass Christian has passed away.

Chomper lived to be 64 years old and “brought awe and pleasure to multiple generations of children and adults alike,” Pine Hills Nursery owner Rachel Bond said on Facebook. The average life expectancy for an alligator is 50, according to the Smithsonian.

Bond’s grandfather, Billy Cuevas, rescued Chomper in 1958 right after the reptile had hatched along the Jourdan River, Bond told the Sun Herald on Tuesday. He was only 6 inches long.

“The nest he found had 21 baby alligators in it,” she said. “They are all territorial and fight over space. All of the others left over time but Chomper would always stay. He could have dug his way out but he never did. He got out on a few occasions but just stayed right in the yard and then went back to his pen.”

Chomper lived on the property 28 years before the nursery off Kiln-DeLisle Road opened. He was also one of the main fixtures of The Wild Side, a small animal farm on site.

Chomper was known for taking naps in the sun and dazzling children who came to see him.

“We always knew when he was hungry because if my grandpa would go up and rattle the fence he would come to him when he wanted to eat,” Bond said. “Otherwise he would just lay there.”





https://www.yahoo.com/news/chomper-belo ... 56063.html

(original: SunuHerald)

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

A relative of yours, Foggy?

[sugar magnolia]

Chomper, beloved alligator who lived at MS Coast nursery his entire life, dies at 64

It must be the season and my stress level right now, but my very (VERY) unsentimental self is bawling at this. Billy Cuevas is a relative on my mom's side and our family homestead is on Kiln-Delisle rd in the Pass. My grandparents are buried out there too, near Diamondhead. Lots and lots of memories of everything from stomping around in the river, to hearing family history stories when visiting, to driving through after Katrina and not recognizing a single thing. No idea why this nostalgia has hit me so hard this morning but the memories just came flooding in after reading this story.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

[Phoenix520]

[pipistrelle]

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

My favorite: Our food dispenser seems to have malfunctioned.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

Be careful in the cold pipi!

https://www.khou.com/article/news/local ... 680cbf62c1

Frozen bats rescued during Houston freeze released at Waugh Drive Bridge
The Houston Humane Society released the rescued cold-stunned bats Wednesday night at the popular viewing spot in Buffalo Bayou Park.

More than 1,500 bats were rescued last Thursday from the Waugh Drive Bat Colony. The agency provided the bats with boosts of fluids to make sure they were properly hydrated before setting them free.

When the bats get too cold, their metabolism plummets, which makes them too weak to hold onto the bridge, causing them to fall to the ground.

On Wednesday, about 700 of them were released under the Waugh Drive Bridge.

Texas Wildlife Rehabilitation Coalition Director Mary Warwick said they use the Waugh Bridge as a tourist attraction, so they owe it to the bats to take care of them if they get into trouble, along with other beneficial reasons.

"When they first come out of the colony, they eat mosquitos," Warwick said. "As they go higher, they eat a lot of moths and insects that affect food crops."

[RTH10260]

Some Alaskan wildlife in first 8 minutes (then you may want to drop out)

[AndyinPA]

We've been to Alaska a half dozen times, but only once in the winter. It was awesome!

[pipistrelle]

[RTH10260]

Thor the walrus filmed returning to the sea at Scarborough
Arctic mammal had won the hearts of residents and caused the town’s fireworks display to be cancelled

Jane Clinton
Sun 1 Jan 2023 19.41 GMT

A wandering Arctic walrus, who won the hearts of local residents and tourists, has been filmed returning to the sea in Scarborough.

The arrival on Saturday of the mammal, nicknamed Thor, to the North Yorkshire seaside town drew huge crowds keen to catch a glimpse of the creature.

In footage shown on the BBC on Sunday the creature can be seen inching towards the sea, plopping in and then swimming off, seemingly bringing an end to his Scarborough sojourn.

It is thought that Thor is the same walrus spotted on the Hampshire coast three weeks ago.

Wildlife experts have suggested that Thor had needed to rest before moving on to continue his journey north.



https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... carborough