What the devil????

Yoda is the talk of the tabs. Blogs galore are featuring pics of the fiendish-looking (but in a good way) Chicago-area kitty who was born with an extra set of ears. And the talk shows are calling. His owners -- who took pity and adopted Yoda when, as a stray kitten, he was being passed around in a bar -- say he is otherwise perfectly normal and hears as well as any cat.

Click here for his story in the Chicago Tribune.

It's pretty obvious how Yoda got his name (Prince of Darkness doesn't have quite the same ring). And it turns out more than a few felines resemble the Star Wars' Jedi Master. Click here for a hysterical Web site featuring feline Yoda lookalikes.

So does your pet resemble a celebrity? Would love to see the pics! Send them to: dlade@sun-sentinel.com

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Yes, we know our pals at the Sun-Sentinel's new FloriDUH blog broke the news earlier today that the new holder of the coveted World's Ugliest Dog title is a Floridian! From St. Petersburg. Aren't we proud. The contest, held yearly at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, CA. always draws more photo coverage than a Paris Hilton night on the town.

But what we'll also tell you here at SSS!: Not only is Gus, a 9-year-old Chinese Crested, ugly. He is one-eyed, three- legged ugly. The eye went in a fight with a cat and the leg was amputed due to skin cancer. Gus' owners told the judges they would put their dog's $1,600 in prize money toward radiation treatments.

Here is a video clip of Gus doing the traditional Ugly Dog contest celebrity spot on the "Today Show." The contest was on Saturday.

And if you can't get enough of all things Gus...

Click here for a complete photo gallery from our friends at Animal Crazy, the Orlando Sentinel's pet blog.

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Looks like the two-legged snake in this incident had a lot less sense than the other one.
Fortunately, this guy doesn't own a dog.

Here's the Attack Python at his new gig: Dance partner.

Man orders pet python to attack police.

June 17, 2008
From Associated Press

(BRIDGEPORT, Conn.) Bridgeport police say they arrested a city man after he ordered his pet to attack two officers. Lucky for them that 9-foot-long pythons aren't very obedient.

Police Lt. James Viadero says 21-year-old Victor Rodriguez was charged with threatening police and disorderly conduct after Monday's incident. No one was hurt.

Officers were called to Rodriguez's apartment on a report that he was threatening his girlfriend with the pet reptile.
Viadero says that when the building superintendent opened the apartment door for the officers, Rodriguez allegedly threatened them with the snake and told it to "Get them!"

Rodriguez and his pet were both taken away: Rodriguez to jail on a $10,000 bond, and the albino python to the city's animal control shelter.

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Back in April, I posted a clip from a Channel 10 story about Hex, a six-week-old kitten that had been born with the bottom half of his unformed twin extending from his abdomen. Hex's Cooper City family was soliciting donations for an operation to remove the extra pair of legs, a procedure expected to cost around $3,000.

Sadly, it appears Hex never made it.

Several blogs, including Neatorama and Animal(lover)dose, have reported the little guy died on May 1. It's assumed Hex never made it through surgery, but no one seems to know for certain.

I did call Veterinary Specialists of South Florida last month -- the veterinary practice that originally was to do the operation. A woman who answered the phone there told me Hex's family decided to take him elsewhere.

There have been some lively online discussions about how feasible it is to spend thousands trying to save a deformed animal when so many healthy dogs and cats need our help. And I see the argument from both sides. But I am very mournful when I think of little Hex, who looked so lively and cute in the television footage as he played with the family's dog, gone before he had much chance to live.

Rest in peace, little one.

Click here to read the original SSS! post on Hex.

(Photo from Veterinary Specialists of South Florida and CBS-TV)

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Lou Hawthorne is back. He's the former CEO of Genetic Savings & Clone -- remember them? They made headlines a few years ago as the first commerical "pet cloning" venture but shut down in 2006 after they couldn't make a go of it.

Lou Hawthorne and three clones.

Now Hawthorne is head of the Best Friends Again project -- kind of a clone of Genetic Savings. Next month, the California company plans to hold an online auction, raffling off cloning rights to five dogs. Starting bid: $100,000.

Two caveats (well, there probably are more than two, but we will leave it there):
* Genetic Savings had to give back "pricey refunds" earlier, Hawthorne said, when it failed to clone cats "because the technology was not refined."
* Best Friends is partnering with Hwang Woo Suk, a South Korean scientist who made headlines in 2004 when he falsely claimed to have cloned human embryos.

Click here for the complete New York Times story.

I've asked this question before and will again:
If money wasn't an object, would you want to clone your pet?

Me, I don't want a duplicate of my animal friends. They can't be replaced or replicated. Just like my human ones.

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A dog, a cat and a rat --
If they can live in balance, why can't we? Check out this amazing video of what a Colorado self-proclaimed "animal trainer" says is a model for world peace.

Thanks, Karen, for sharing!

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This from my co-worker and gal pal Megan. As an investigative reporter, she encounters far more interesting people than I ever could hope to meet.

In 2001 I wrote a short story for the Sun-Sentinel about a South Florida woman who asked the Town Commission in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea to prohibit people from feeding squirrels. "Common sense would tell you they are a rodent, and you wouldn't want to attract rodents," she told her elected officials. They scoffed and sent her, um, scurrying. "I feed the squirrels. I'm guilty," said then-Commissioner Bob Waller.

Twiggy in action

Since the story appeared, I've been getting, unsolicited, a regular newsletter from, of all things, squirrel lovers. "In a Nutshell" is usually eight pages long, complete with photos and headlines such as: "Baldy and His Gang -- Part 5" ( a 1,200-word essay by a squirrel-feeding window washer charmed by a hoard of squirrels peering into his bucket). In the May/June issue the same author has a piece on his 1997 invitation to appear on the Rosie O'Donnell show to defend the honor of all squirrels, whom Rosie likened to "rats with too much hair" (a phrase she no doubt later employed in her feud with Donald Trump).

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TV Channel 10-WPLG Miami is carrying a story about Hex, a six-legged newborn kitten that was the only one in his litter. Hex actually is more of a cat-and-a-half; look carefully and you can see the bottom half and two legs of another kitten extending from his abdomen. (Go the Local 10's Web site here, and you'll get a better idea).

Veterinary Specialists of South Florida think the extra legs and body came from Hex's Siamese twin that never fully developed. His Cooper City family wants to do the surgery that would remove the extra appendage, and repair the intestines; his vets say Hex "could pull through."

The catch: It will cost between $2,400 and $3,000.
Hex's family is asking for donations to Veterinary Specialists to help.

So: Is it worth saving Hex and other domestic animals born seriously deformed? If the family can't pay for the surgery now, will they be able to afford other medical complications that might come up later?

On the other hand: You look at the video of the little guy, scampering around like any other 6-week-old kitten, and it's hard not to reach for your checkbook. What do you think?

If you vote "save Hex and I want to help," click here for contact info for Veterinary Specialists, which is collecting contributions toward the cats' care.

(photo from Local 10.com)

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Being cute may get you cuddled when you're a pet. But being ugly can make you famous.

Just look at Oscar, the naked cockatoo — if you can. The bird, who has lived at the Humane Society of Broward County for 12 years, has a body that looks like its ready for the barbecue and the head of a bruised carnival dancer.
But her appearance, and unofficial title of World's Ugliest Bird, have landed her on national television and international Web sites.

Then there is the eye-popping popularity of the annual World's Ugliest Dog contest in California.
This may be the only pageant where bad hair, a scrawny tail and a rotten underbite are an asset. Here's former champion Sam on a victory lap.

Do you have your own ugly cutie? Let's see 'em! Send a photo and a note about your pet (including why their questionable looks make them so adorable) to dlade@sun-sentinel.com. This could be your pet's first step on the road to celebrity.

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Blogger Ann Hellmuth, at our sister paper in Orlando, posted this week about kopi luwak – coffee brewed from the feces of the coffee bean-and-fruit-eating Indonesian palm civet cat. A London store is advertising DeLonghi Caffe Raro as the “world’s most expensive coffee” at $100 a cup. The company claims its distinctive taste comes from a bean that has traveled in one end of the civet and out the other. Hence one of the brew's few printable nicknames, "cat butt coffee".

But beyond the "ewwwwkkkk!" factor is this: Is kopi luwak cruelty free?

Originally, the feces were harvested from the forest floor. But then the civet coffee buzz started, the price skyrocketed and the natural production cycle proved too unreliable. A piece on food blog Chow.com, suggests civets (more like a mongoose than a house cat) now are farm raised and force-fed beans, like geese for foie gras.

Plus -- how do you know you’re getting the real poop? I am assuming most of us can’t taste the difference between distilled civet droppings and, say, brewed exotic seeds or rabbit feces. Hmm, come to think of it, maybe I have found a way to get my cats to contribute to the household income…

And finally: Anyone remember that four years ago, Chinese health officials suspected civets were carrying the respiratory syndrome SARS??

If none of the above concerns you, drink up! Caffe Raro fans say it's good to the last dropping.

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