Unusual Scene

A True Story about a Hippo stranded after the Tsunami NAIROBI (AFP) -
A baby hippopotamus that survived the tsunami waves on the Kenyan coast has formed a strong bond with a giant male century-old tortoise, in an animal facility in the port city of Mombassa, officials said.



The hippopotamus, nicknamed Owen and weighing about 300 kilograms (650 pounds), was swept down Sabaki River into the Indian Ocean, then forced back to shore when tsunami waves struck the Kenyan coast on December 26, before wildlife rangers rescued him.



"It is incredible. A-less-than-a-year-old hippo has adopted a male tortoise, about a century old, and the tortoise seems to be very happy with being a 'mother'," ecologist Paula Kahumbu, who is in charge of Lafarge Park, told AFP.



"After it was swept away and lost its mother, the hippo was traumatized. It had to look for something to be a surrogate mother. Fortunately, it landed on the tortoise and established a strong bond. They swim, eat and sleep together," the ecologist added.

"The hippo follows the tortoise exactly the way it follows its mother. If somebody approaches the tortoise, the hippo becomes aggressive, as if protecting its biological mother," Kahumbu added.



"The hippo is a young baby, he was left at a very tender age and by nature, hippos are social animals that like to stay with their mothers for four years," she explained.




Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

Animals Diabetes

Diabetes mellitus occurs when the pancreas doesn't produce enough insulin. Insulin is required for the body to efficiently use sugars, fats and proteins.

Diabetes most commonly occurs in middle age to older dogs and cats, but occasionally occurs in young animals. When diabetes occurs in young animals, it is often genetic and may occur in related animals. Diabetes mellitus occurs more commonly in female dogs and in male cats.

Certain conditions predispose a dog or cat to developing diabetes. Animals that are overweight or those with inflammation of the pancreas are predisposed to developing diabetes. Some drugs can interfere with insulin, leading to diabetes. Glucocorticoids, which are cortisone-type drugs, and hormones used for heat control are drugs that are most likely to cause diabetes. These are commonly used drugs and only a small percentage of animals receiving these drugs develop diabetes after long term use.

The body needs insulin to use sugar, fat and protein from the diet for energy. Without insulin, sugar accumulates in the blood and spills into the urine. Sugar in the urine causes the pet to pass large amounts of urine and to drink lots of water. Levels of sugar in the brain control appetite. Without insulin, the brain becomes sugar deprived and the animal is constantly hungry, yet they may lose weight due to improper use of nutrients from the diet. Untreated diabetic pets are more likely to develop infections and commonly get bladder, kidney, or skin infections. Diabetic dogs, and rarely cats, can develop cataracts in the eyes. Cataracts are caused by the accumulation of water in the lens and can lead to blindness. Fat accumulates in the liver of animals with diabetes. Less common signs of diabetes are weakness or abnormal gait due to nerve or muscle dysfunction.

There are 2 forms of diabetes: un- complicated and keto- acidosis. There are two major forms of diabetes in the dog and cat:
1) uncomplicated diabetes, and
2) diabetes with ketoacidosis.

Pets with uncomplicated diabetes may have the signs just described but are not extremely ill. Diabetic pets with ketoacidosis are very ill and may be vomiting and depressed.

The diagnosis of diabetes is made by finding a large increase in blood sugar and a large amount of sugar in the urine. Animals, especially cats, stressed by having a blood sample drawn, can have a temporary increase in blood sugar, but there is no sugar in the urine. A blood screen of other organs is obtained to look for changes in the liver, kidney and pancreas. A urine sample may be cultured to look for infection of the kidneys or bladder. Diabetic animals with ketoacidosis may have an elevation of waste products that are normally removed by the kidneys.

Diabetes is not a curable disease, but with proper insulin administration, the disease can be controlled. Although not the most common of dog diseases, as many as several hundred thousand dogs may be affected.

Diabetes Treatment
1. Diet
Diet is a critical component of treatment, and is in many cases effective on its own. For example, a recent mini-study showed that many diabetic cats stopped needing insulin after changing to a low-carbohydrate diet. The rationale is that a low-carbohydrate diet reduces the amount of insulin needed and keeps the variation in blood sugar low and easier to predict. Also, fats and proteins are, in dogs and perhaps cats, turned into blood glucose much more slowly and evenly than carbohydrates, reducing blood-sugar highs right after mealtimes.

Latest veterinary good practise is to recommend a low-carb diet for cats, and a high-fiber, moderate-carb diet for dogs. In dogs another alternative is to feed a normal healthy diet but give mealtime insulin bolus supplements. Dogs with pancreatitis, a fairly common condition for diabetic dogs, often need a restricted-fat diet.

It's now becoming clear that lower carbohydrate diets will significantly lower insulin requirements for diabetic cats. Carbohydrate levels are highest in dry cat foods (even the expensive prescription types) so cats are best off usually with a low-carb healthy canned diet. Some prescription canned foods made for diabetic cats are effective, but some ordinary ones work just as well. Between 3 and 9% calories from carbohydrates seems to be optimal. These lists of common commercial cat foods and their carbohydrate energy content are kept up-to date.

2. Insulin injections
Humans with Type-1 diabetes are often treated with a "basal plus bolus" method, where a long-acting insulin is injected once or twice daily to provide a "basal" insulin level, then shorter-acting insulin is used just before mealtimes.

For cats, a "basal" method is usually employed instead -- a single slow-acting dose, twice daily, along with a very low-carb diet, attempts to keep the blood sugar within a recommended range for the entire day. In this case it's important for the pet to avoid large meals, since they can seriously affect the blood sugar. (Meals may also be timed to coincide with peak insulin activity.) Once-daily doses are not recommended for most cats, since insulin usually metabolizes faster in cats than in dogs or humans; an insulin brand that lasts 24 hours in people may only be good for about 12 in a cat.

For dogs, either of the above two methods may be used. Since a dog is naturally omnivorous, a low-carb diet is unnatural. But either a basal-only method combined with a high-fiber diet, or a basal-bolus method along with a normal canine diet, can be effective.


3. Medications
Diaxol, an all-natural product reverses pet's diabetes. Diaxol helps to lower pet's blood sugar and heal pet diabetes. Diabetes animals treated with Diaxol™ has show improvement throughout the body, its effect being decreases blood sugar levels, eliminates insulin resistance, enhances cell repair, increases nutrient absorption and directly detoxifies the body. Diaxol™, has been clinically proven to be 99% effective for pet diabetes. It contains no chemically generated-compounds, fillers, or artificial additives and unlike pharmaceutical drugs, Diaxol™ does not require a prescription and has ZERO negative side effects.


It's always best to prevent diabetes than trying desperately to cure it. Keep your dog healthy! Take good care of your dog. Watch what your dog eats.

Funny Animals Pictures

In a zoo in California, a mother tiger gave birth to a rare set of triplet tiger cubs.

Unfortunately, due to complications in the pregnancy, the cubs were born prematurely and due to their tiny size, died shortly after birth.

The mother tiger after recovering from the delivery, suddenly started to decline in health, although physically she was fine. The veterinarians felt that the loss of her litter had caused the tigress to fall into a depression.

The doctors decided that if the tigress could surrogate another mother's cubs, perhaps she would improve. After checking with many other zoos across the country, the depressing news was that there were no tiger cubs of the right age to introduce to the mourning mother.

The veterinarians decided to try something that had never been tried in a zoo environment. Sometimes a mother of one species will take on the care of a different species. The only "orphans" that could be found quickly, were a litter of wiener pigs. The zoo keepers and vets wrapped the piglets in tiger skin and placed the babies around the mother tiger.