Cats and Birds information on net.

I have two four-year-old female cockatiels. I know that they can lay eggs without having had contact with a male bird. One of ours did recently, but we can't tell which one. What should I do about this egg? Will they lay more?

Normally birds that are breeding will produce a few clutches (groups of eggs) to hatch per year, according to Tracey Ritzman, D.V.M., an avian and exotics specialist at Angell Memorial Animal Hospital in Boston, a division of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Female birds can also produce eggs without a male bird for various reasons. These eggs are infertile and will not hatch.

Female cockatiels that constantly lay eggs during the year and are not paired for breeding are often termed "chronic egg layers." Excessive egg production can cause the bird to deplete her calcium stores, use extra energy, and predispose her to complications such as egg binding, a life-threatening condition in which the egg fails to move down the reproductive tract at a normal rate.

If your pet cockatiel is producing eggs throughout the year, she may be producing too many. Try changing her environment to help her reduce egg production.

Factors that influence egg production include the age of the bird, lighting, season, climate, and day length. Make sure light cycles are not too long, since longer cycles increase reproductive behavior. The presence of a nest box or interaction with another bird, a human, or even a toy that the bird bonds with may also stimulate egg production. Provide plenty of supervised time out of the cage when possible.

It's also important to prevent nutritional deficiencies that may lead to problems. Pet birds on seed-based diets often lack adequate levels of calcium and other vitamins and minerals important for normal egg production.

My six-year-old mixed-breed dog has had difficulty walking lately. Occasionally her leg will swing out to the side and seem stiff. Her vet said she has a luxating patella. What causes this, and can it be corrected?

The patella, or kneecap, is a floating bone within the tendon of the quadriceps muscle group. The large tendon runs over the end of the femur, or thighbone, and attaches to the front of the tibia, or shinbone. The quadriceps is a powerful muscle group that extends the knee joint when it contracts. The patella protects the tendon at the point where it connects to the end of the femur, and provides a greater gliding surface for the tendon.

# posted by Medical Information : 10:54 PM  0 Comments

THE NASTY CULEX TARSALIS (West Nile virus) and bovine spongiform encephalopathy ("mad cow") grab the headlines, but they're merely the most visible challenges for governments managing responsibilities related to the animal kingdom. Just for today, let's expand the definition of "animal kingdom" to include all non-human creatures, from bacteria to birds to border collies to bugs, and look at a few things governments are called on to handle - some of them quite pleasant.

Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) is advertising for a falconer to manage its bird control program at Canadian Forces Base Halifax and around the dockyard. Apparently public works has had its eye on the award-winning bird control program at the local airport, which uses the only full-time airport falconer in Canada to disperse flocks of hungry snow buntings and geese. Public affairs director Pat Chapman confirms Halifax International says the program works well.

Falconry has been used at Canadian airports for 40 years. Transport Canada says it has the advantage of good optics: "The practice offers real public relations benefits as well, since many animal-welfare groups look upon falconry as a humane method of wildlife control," the department's website says.

Alternatively, CFB Halifax could relocate its excess waterfowl to Manitoba where the province has now paid the second of five $200,000 installments to run the Oak Hammock Marsh Conservation Centre 30 km north of Winnipeg. The centre features a 120-seat multimedia theatre, rooftop observation deck and interactive exhibits to educate the public about the value of wetlands. Voted "Canada's best outdoor attraction," the centre perches among 30 kilometres of dike trails leading into a 36 square kilometre restored remnant of the historic St. Andrews Bog that once covered 450 square kilometres of southern Manitoba. Almost 300 species of birds and thousands of species of mammals, insects, amphibians, reptiles and other wildlife rely on this habitat.

# posted by Medical Information : 10:52 PM  0 Comments

Some fellow bird-watchers are horrified to learn that we are cat owners, believing that the two must be mutually exclusive. There's good reason for such reaction: In the United States, there are 66 million pet cats and between 40 and 60 million unowned, free-roaming cats. While no one can say how many birds and other wildlife are killed each year by these small hunters, the figure is probably in the hundreds of millions. In the state where we live, Wisconsin, free-roaming cats kill an estimated 39 million birds each year alone according to recent research at the University of Wisconsin.

Our cat cannot be counted among the culprits, however. That's because she has never set a paw outside (except in a carrier for car travel). Like us, though, she has spent years observing birds through the windows of our house. Cats by nature are dedicated bird-watchers. Our cat seems to enjoy staring at the feathered creatures for hours on end and we've made her life easier by creating habitat right outside certain windows--something any cat owner can do. The birds also benefit from such added habitat.

Cats that spend their lives indoors can still practice using their hunting and stalking instincts through a pane of glass. And after recognizing that the cat on the other side of the window does not represent a danger, a bird may feel secure enough to build its nest and raise its young within inches of you and your pet.

Dense native shrubs, planted just outside a window that offers a good vantage point, can provide ideal nesting sites and cover for a variety of songbirds. The best plants to use will vary by geographic region, as well as by the size and location of the windows. The addition of a berry-producing plant such as highbush cranberry will not only provide cover but also food for some species of birds during the cold months. You can also put feeders, baths and nest boxes just outside the windows.

Needless to say, some birds are timid about approaching feeders or shrubs close to a window from which a cat is watching their every move. One solution is to install a piece of reflective film, such as mylar, on the inside of the window. Easily removed, the mylar acts like a one- way mirror, allowing you and your cat to see the birds, but not vice- versa. In our experience, the mirror effect does not cause the birds to fly into the glass or attack their reflections, perhaps because feeders and baths may be neutral zones where conflict is minimal.

# posted by Medical Information : 10:51 PM  0 Comments