Looking for a Pet First Aid Course?

The human found an online pet first aid course!

We guinea pigs tend to be awkward creatures, with strange injuries. The human has navigated broken toe nails, hay in eye attacks, sore paws, pulled stitches, allergies, and more. Now, while the scope of this course focuses on dogs and cats, first aid information is invaluable. You never know what trouble a pet might get into!

The human tried to get me to learn too…
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No human, it is your job to learn to take care of me!

Have you ever wondered when you absolutely need to take your pet to the vet? Are there situations you can handle at home? Or are there things you can have on hand to help in emergency situations so you can get your pet to the vet? Or wanted to learn this kind of stuff but don’t have time to actually go to an in person class?

If so then check out Pro Pet Hero!

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The human really liked that the course is taught by a certified veterinarian named Dr. Bobbi Conner. She presents the information clearly and consciously, and demonstrates key skills. First you watch training videos, after which you take a test to demonstrate what you learned, and when you pass you get a certificate you can print. Very useful if you are a pet sitter, dog walker, or other such profession so you can prove your training to clients. The course is well priced for information that could save your pets life, or your sanity, depending on the situation. Some of the big topics covered include dog cpr, creating a first aid kit, poisoning, itching, vomiting, how to measure vital signs, and many other health topics.

You can take the course from wherever online, what ever time of day you are free, and at your own pace. The human was able to start the course and complete it later on over the course of a couple days as she had time! The site also offers a weekly refresher email so that you can keep up on your skills over time.

The website explains the process like this:

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The human is interested in getting a puppy soon, and now she feels much better equipped to deal with dog care and health. If you have a pet, work with them, or are considering one this course is a great opportunity to learn valuable skills! prophlogo

My human is certified, are you?

Check out Pro Pet Hero!

Pony Express Google Doodle

Today, April 14, is the 155th Anniversary of the Pony Express! To celebrate the Google Doodle on the google main search page is a game that you can play.

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You are the pony express rider trying to make it through 3 different legs of your journey while avoiding obstacles and collecting as many pieces of mail as possible along the way.

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At the end you are welcomed into town and get a score which helps the overall global score of everyone playing together and which you can share with your friends:

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You can see I did not do every well, but it was my first time!

Here is the video Google made about the Pony Express and what went into making this game:

Hope you get to play the game and good luck!

Tiger Cake

Avalon Cakes posted a blog about this amazing tiger cake a while ago and I wanted to share it with you.

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Such amazing details! It manages to be cute, furry, and fierce all at the same time. The cake is edible, and it contained around 30 servings.

Avalon Cakes posted pictures of the cake through the process of making it.

Here it is after the details have been sculpted into and out of the fondant, which provide the 3D fur effect and lifelike eyes:
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Then the stripes were added with a dry dusting technique:
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After that the orange fur color was added along with all the rest of the details in the face and eyes:
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Truly a work of art, this cake is simply fantastic! If you ever need a realistic, beautiful, or whimsical cake in the areas around Denver Colorado, contact Avalon Cakes!

– Fizz

*All photos from Avalon Cakes*

Zoo Animals in the Snow

At the national zoo the animals are enjoying the snow!

Where the human lives the snow has taken over for the time being, and staying home is the best remedy for the cold and dangerous roads. Take a look at these animals having more fun than my human is!

Pandas Mei Xiang and 16 month old cub Bao Bao:
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(Devin Murphy/Smithsonian National Zoo)
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(Devin Murphy/Smithsonian National Zoo)

Bao Bao enjoying the trees:
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(Devin Murphy/Smithsonian’s National Zoo)

African Lions
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(Amy Enchelmeyer/Smithsonian’s National Zoo)

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(Amy Enchelmeyer/Smithsonian’s National Zoo)

I would not have expected Afrcan Lions to appreciate snow! But I suppose they would get used to it living at the National Zoo where it is a fact of life in the winter.

The regal beauty of Sumatran Tiger Sukacita enjoying a walk in the snow:
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(Amy Enchelmeyer/Smithsonian’s National Zoo)

Rona the Grey Seal with a face full of snow:
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(Chelsea Grubb/Smithsonian’s National Zoo)

Hope you are all enjoying sunshine, staying warm, or are having this much winter fun!

-Fizz

See more photos at CBS Washington DC.

Happy 2015!

Happy New Year! May all our readers have a year filled with joy, growth, and furry friends!

I was kind enough to sport a makeshift party hat for some New Years cheer:

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The human said that penguins were fun and match my fur colors. I am not certain they embody the idea of celebrating a new year, but humans think in funny ways sometimes. The hat is simply a Santa hat with tinfoil on the outside. Took the human two seconds and I only wore it while I ate my carrot, so the minimal effort on her part was justified.

Happy 2015 everyone!

– Fizz

Panda Cupcakes

Here is a fun way to decorate cupcakes to look like panda bears, courtesy of Bakerella.

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(Bakerella)

Ingredients to make mini cupcakes:
1. cupcake mix – for as many cupcakes as you want or need.
chocolate flavor creates a complete look, but you can do any flavor.
2. chocolate chips – to make the ears, nose, and eye base. Ghiradelli brand has better diameter for this purpose, or another of comparable size.
3. white frosting –  enough for all your cupcakes.
4. white sanding sugar – to give the texture of fur.
5. Jimmies – chocolate or black to make mouth lines.
6. white pastel confetti sprinkles – for the white of the eye.
7. black edible ink pen – to draw pupils on the white sprinkles.

Note: If you wanted to make larger panda cupcakes just tweak the ingredients to use chocolate drops or large chocolate chips (which you might have to cut in half for the nose), larger or more sprinkles for the mouths, and use premade candy eyes or get creative with a circle of icing or fondant with a black sphere sprinkle or black edible ink circle for pupils. The process of putting them together would be the same.

Instructions:
1. Make your cupcakes according to your favorite recipe or the box in a mini cupcake pan (hey sometimes we all need to save a little time). Allow to cool.

2. Frost the cupcakes with the white frosting. A decorator bag with Ateco tip #807 will help to pipe a small mound of frosting on top of the cupcake. You do not need to cover the whole top because you will be pressing them in to the sanding sugar which will force the mound out to cover the whole top.

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(Bakerella)

3. Press the frosted cupcakes into the sanding sugar to spread the frosting and create a fur like texture.

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(Bakerella)

4. Press chocolate chips into the frosting to create the face. One should go sideways, point facing downward, towards the bottom of the face to create the nose. Two should go point down into the frosting above that to make the base for the eyes.  And two should go into the sides of the frosting, point down, to create ears.

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(Bakerella)

5. Press the Jimmies into the frosting to create any type of mouth you want.

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(Bakerella)

6. Finish the eyes by drawing circles on the confetti sprinkles and then attach them to the chocolate chip base with a bit of frosting. Or use frosting to make the eyes, or attach premade candy eyes.

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(Bakerella)

7. Make sure each face is how you would like them. Having the sanding sugar over the frosting also allows you to reshape the frosting to get your desired look.

8. Serve and enjoy!

This design is really cute and allows you to do your own take on just how a panda should look. Great for kids parties or just because!

– Fizz

You can see more pictures and get Bakerella’s cupcake and frosting recipes here.

Shake Hands With An Otter

Otters are playful and adorable. Or so states the human, who has pictures of these creatures playing and I suppose being cute. Have you ever wanted to touch one? This is not something one gets the opportunity to do everyday.

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(imgur)

The Keikyu Aburatsubo Marine Park in Japan has a special exhibit set up for their otters called “Otter Finger Touch, Fish Catch.” Visitors pay 500 yen, or $5, to offer a fish at special holes in the glass enclosure to lure an otter to put a paw through to possibly touch your finger and to definitely get a fish.

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(rocketnews24)

The exhibit opened July 13, 2014, and only runs until September 13, 2014, so if interested you need to act quickly. Visitors are encouraged to make a reservation in order to guarantee an opportunity to try for an otter hand shake. The exhibit is open for all those who enter the park to see the otters, but the touch experience has a morning and evening session with a max of 10 people. I am not sure if it is 10 each session or ten total for the day. Of course, you need to be in Japan or able to travel there for this experience.

Here are pictures from reporter Meru Rinko‘s trip to the exhibit:
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(rocketnews24)

Some species of otters can be vicious, people are attacked by them, so I would not advocate just trying to offer fish to wild otters. The otters in the exhibit are Asian Small Clawed Otters, the smallest species, who have little finger like toes with small claws unlike the webbed feet of the larger North American River Otter. Asian Small Clawed Otters are a vulnerable species due to habitat loss, and are now extinct in some areas which used to have large populations. You can of course see this type of otter in the US at places like Seaworld and the San Diego Zoo, but no other place offers finger touches.

Baby Asian Small Clawed Otters:
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(zooborns)

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(animalfactguide)

Adult:

Asian Small-clawed Otter
(zoochat)

This is a very unique opportunity for otter lovers, so take advantage of it if you can!

-Cola

You can read more here to get details of when/where/how and see even more photos of that reporter’s trip here.

McDonald’s New Mascot

Don’t human children usually like cute mascots? Or maybe at the very least cool mascots? My human showed me McDonald’s new mascot, named Happy, and it is not guinea pig approved! Baby guinea pigs should not be exposed to it. The look in its eyes assures me it is plotting to eat all guinea pigs.

Just look at it!
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Those teeth are perfect to eat guinea pigs (or human children), those eyes can only be plotting the demise of all life on Earth, the arms and and legs just make no sense because it is a box and should not be allowed mobility. The creature is named Happy when nothing about it makes me or anyone else happy. There is simply nothing redeemable about this. I, and all guineas at FT, think that human children cannot be fooled by this creature.

But what about dogs? I think that this is the only appropriate way to view this new thing:
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(reddit)

This Corgi makes it look funny! Go Corgi!

All power to the dogs who can rip these boxes apart and prevent them from carrying out their evil plans…

-Fizz