Following up a feature about the booming pet business, a veterinary nutritionist answers reader questions.

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Well: Answers About Feeding Dogs and Cats

After the earthquake and tsunami of March 11, many people were forced to leave their pets behind. One dog was rescued after what is believed to be three weeks at sea. Groups have worke d to provide care and shelter to the animals and to reunite them with their owners.

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Dog rescued in Japan; others reunite with owners

After the earthquake and tsunami of March 11, many people were forced to leave their pets behind. One dog was rescued after what is believed to be three weeks at sea. Groups have worke d to provide care and shelter to the animals and to reunite them with their owners.

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Dog rescued in Japan; others reunite with owners

After the earthquake and tsunami of March 11, many people were forced to leave their pets behind. One dog was rescued after what is believed to be three weeks at sea. Groups have worke d to provide care and shelter to the animals and to reunite them with their owners.

Link:
Dog rescued in Japan; others reunite with owners

Sharing a mattress with pets has its risks: germs, crowding and rivalries. It also has its rewards: unconditional love.

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Warm Nights, Cold Noses

An argument for self-insuring your pet, rather than buying pet insurance.

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Bucks: An Argument for Pet Self-Insurance

Parliament is discussing the idea of so-called ‘Dog Asbos’ which aim to put more responsibility on owners for the actions of their pets.

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‘Dog Asbos’ plan under discussion

Patients receiving a radioactive thyroid treatment can be a hazard to pregnant women for days. But while pets who take it are quarantined, humans can go home.

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Radiation Treatment Differs in Rules for Humans and Pets

Twenty years ago, there were hardly any dogs in Beijing, but today there dog-treat stores, dog Web sites, dog social networks, and even dog swimming pools.

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Beijing Journal: Once Banned, Dogs Reflect China’s Rise

Modernist two-story homes for fish friends Unless you go custom, aquariums rarely do much to elevate the humble fish’s status anywhere close to that of furry four-legged friends. Swedish designer Karl-Oskar Ankarberg has taken on the plight of the fish, designing an attractive split-level home called the Archiquarium . Ankarberg makes the upper level of his “modern living for trendy goldfish” out of white Corian with black Corian for the ground floor, resulting in exceptionally-crafted aquatic digs suitable in almost any home or office. Both the upper and lower levels have panoramic windows so the fish can be viewed as they travel around, swimming freely between the floors. Two more windows at the rear and side of the tank, along with a big skylight installed in the lower level offer optimum viewing pleasure. Unveiled at Stockholm’s Hem 2010 (Home Fair), Archiquarium is in production and will soon be available for purchase.

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Archiquarium

In an attempt to reach people who do not normally go to the cinema, Shetland film festival is targeting their pets.

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Canine Cinema gets audience howling

This article titled “Owners of chain-store rabbit hutches could be breaking the law, charity warns” was written by Rebecca Smithers, consumer affairs correspondent, for guardian.co.uk on Wednesday 11th August 2010 14.14 UTC

Rabbit hutches sold by Britain’s largest retail chains are so small that they are tantamount to animal cruelty and could cause owners to inadvertently break the law, an animal welfare charity warned today.

With greater numbers of rabbits being sold as children’s pets during the school holidays, the Rabbit Welfare Association & Fund (RWAF) urged retailers to improve their hutches.

Britain’s largest specialist rabbit welfare charity, the RWAF said Argos and Homebase, for example, both sold a £70 hutch that is only 77cm long but is marketed as big enough to allow rabbits to “stretch on their hind legs and run freely”.

The charity said the hutch was barely half the size recommended for laboratory rabbits kept for experiments, while four separate hutches in the Argos range were smaller than the minimum for lab rabbits.

The RWAF said this was hypocritical because Argos had earned “cruelty-free” status from the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection.

Laboratory rabbits spend a relatively small amount of time in hutches, but domestic rabbits may live in theirs for up to 12 years. Any hutch smaller than 122cm x 45cm (4ft x 1ft approximately) gives a floor area below the minimum requirement for laboratory rabbits.

Rae Todd, of the RWAF, said: “Pet rabbits can live in hutches provided they’re big enough for rabbits to hop around, stretch and jump up, and as long as they’re attached to a permanent exercise area.

“But keeping rabbits cooped up alone in hutches of the type sold by these big retail chains is just tantamount to cruelty.”

There is no legal minimum size for a hutch, but the Animal Welfare Act makes it a legal obligation for owners to provide for the needs of their pets, including somewhere suitable to live, the ability to express normal behaviour and being housed with (or apart from) other animals.

The RWAF said rabbit owners cannot meet these legal obligations if they keep their rabbit alone in a hutch. It added that a hutch should only ever be a shelter as part of a larger living area, and never the sole accommodation.

“A traditional hutch and run isn’t the only way to keep pet rabbits humanely,” Todd said. “Many people find it easier to adapt a garden shed as rabbit accommodation, build an attractive garden feature from a converted aviary or child’s wendy house or keep them indoors, house trained.”

She said the organisation had sent Argos an 11-page review of its product range in April, but had received “only a standard reply – which was very disappointing”.

The Home Retail Group, of which Argos and Homebase are members, said it was committed to being a responsible retailer. A statement said: “The RSCPA has advised that it has no current recommendation for the size of a hutch for a single rabbit. In our autumn/winter catalogue we do make it clear that hutches should be used in conjunction with a run, we will be amending the website to that effect. We also offer a discount on a run if purchased in conjunction with selected rabbit hutches.”

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