Recently in Pets Category

What's in a name? For dogs, more traditional names like Spot are Buster are out. According to a study conducted by Veterinary Pet Insurance, the top names among male dogs are Max, Buddy and Rocky. For females, Bella, Molly and Lucy head the list.
You don't have to stray far from the pages of the News-Sun to find that dog names have gone wild. In fact, the April winner of the Tuesday Pets drawing is named Gannymede. Tuesday's Pet of the Week is named Eppe. If dogs are truly man's best friend, why do we give them such silly names? Poor pooches.

It's not a question of if the Lake County cougar is captured, it's when. It would be a good idea to have a plan of what to do with the beast once it's captured. How about starting a Lake County Zoo, with the cougar as the centerpiece.
After the big cat is tamed, it could be loaned out to roam the sidelines during Vernon Hills football games, or lick the hand that feeds it at kids birthday parties. It's clear the cougar likes it here. Don't ship it out to Wyoming. Keep it in Lake County, and let's have some fun with it!

It's not a question of if the Lake County cougar is captured, it's when. It would be a good idea to have a plan of what to do with the beast once it's captured. How about starting a Lake County Zoo, with the cougar as the centerpiece.
After the big cat is tamed, it could be loaned out to roam the sidelines during Vernon Hills football games, or lick the hand that feeds it at kids birthday parties. It's clear the cougar likes it here. Don't ship it out to Wyoming. Keep it in Lake County, and let's have some fun with it!

The Hound has been attacked by skunk lovers who want to own the animals as pets in Illinois. Well, read on what Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle did to a similar wild animal.

According to The Associated Press, Doyle signed a bill into law late last week that declares wild pigs harmful wild animals. Wild pigs have been a problem in southwestern Wisconsin for years as their rooting destroys the ground and crops. Designating the pigs as harmful means no one can possess, sell, buy, display or rehabilitate one.

The keywords here are possess, sell, buy, display or rehabilitate. Wild pigs may not be vermin, like skunks, but they certainly sharing the rooting around gene. Wisconsin also bans having a skunk as a pet and requires a special permit to keep one. That's because the state classifies them as wild or exotic animals. If you want to own a skunk, you need to have an an approved dwelling place for it, a licensed vet to care for it and have its musk sack removed.

But remember, skunk lovers, the animal is a member of the weasel family. Some people call them "stink cats," "polecats" or "smell cats." Gee, wonder where they got those names? Probably from some hound who got skunk stink on him or her.

If The Hound knows one thing in the universe is true, it's that skunks smell. They smell real bad. How bad? Bad. So The Hound can't figure out why people in Illinois, mainly downstate Illinois, want to keep skunks as pets. They do and they are waging a war to change state law.