Americans Love Animals More Than They Used To

There are 48 days until the presidential election, and it often feels as if we Americans are at each other’s throats. Sometimes it seems as though all we can agree on — or agree to click “like” on — are dog and cat videos, right? Actually, that’s not so far from the truth. Americans do broadly have positive feelings about dogs and cats — and they also feel warmer and fuzzier about wild animals, such as sharks and wolves, than they did four decades ago.

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Pigs, Pythons, and Other Animals People Call Their Pets

The dog may be a man’s best friend, but pot-bellied pigs, alpacas and pythons make fine companions, too. So do turtles and lizards and even sugar gliders. Areca Roe photographed all of these and more for Housebroken, her engaging look at unusual pets.

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Hairy Animals Teach Us How to Keep Robots Clean

If you own a cat or a dog, you’re familiar with their grooming habits. All of that licking might seem excessive — especially if the dog is doing it under the dinner table or the cat is doing it on the pillow next to your head.  But staying clean is essential to their health and their grooming habits could actually teach hairless creatures such as ourselves how to improve the cleanliness of a range of technologies.

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Photo Perfectly Captures How Animals Actually Rescue Us

Sometimes an image surfaces that perfectly captures a feeling we thought could never be totally conveyed.  This particular image shows a woman tearfully embracing a dog in an emotional moment that appears to be a reunion or a first-meeting. It was posted on October 19 on Facebook by a user who compiles "funny, inspirational animal photo quotes" and shared over 54,000 times.

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Support Animals Help UNC Students

Senior Jared Scruggs is the proud owner of a small 10-month-old pointer fox terrier mix named Willow. But Willow isn’t any regular puppy — she is a support animal. Three years ago, UNC allowed its first support animal in a residence hall. Today, there are three students living with support animals on campus, said Rick Bradley, associate director of housing and residential education. According to UNC’s Animals On Campus policy, a service animal is defined by law as a dog or miniature horse, but support animals include more species. A support animal is “an animal that provides emotional or other support to an individual with a disability.”

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Video: World's Saddest Dog Begs For Forgiveness

This dog has more regrets than you.  In a video uploaded to Facebook, an Italian man's dog begs for forgiveness for whatever it's done. Bowing its head and giving so many one-sided hugs, the shamed pooch knows that it's in the wrong.  Our question: What did this dog do? Did it get too drunk at a party? Did it steal its owners money for drugs? Did it poop on the floor? We don't know. But it must have been awful.

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Homeless Dog Jumps Into Stranger’s Car and Lives Happily Ever After

A family was driving in their car when they spotted a dog in terrible condition. She was malnourished and covered in wounds and sunburn. The family decided to pull over and take her with them. They named her Kelsey.

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He Didn’t Know How Long His Puppy Had To Live So He Filmed Her Every Day

Dave Meinert made a beautiful film of his dog Pegasus as she grew up.   This video has gone hugely viral in the last week.  It was made by Dave Meinert, 34, a film-maker from South Africa, and it stars Pegasus.Meinert rescued her from backyard breeders when she was a puppy.  He told BuzzFeed: “Most of her siblings died or were deformed. I’ll never know what was wrong.”  He said: “She saw seven vets in the beginning. She’s just a dog that’s always sick and always, always happy.”

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Delays on Highway After Dog Goes For a Drive

Delays were caused on a busy stretch of the M74 motorway after reports of a dog "taking control of a tractor". The incident - highlighted on Twitter by Traffic Scotland - took place at J13 at Abington, South Lanarkshire.  It later emerged that a sheepdog called Don, owned by farmer Tom Hamilton, had leaned on the controls of his utility vehicle, taking it on to the road.  Police and Mr Hamilton later recovered Don, who was unhurt, and the vehicle, from the central reservation.

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Girl Without Feet Finds Perfect Patch: Puppy Missing a Paw

A Tennessee toddler with prosthetic legs has found a friend in a puppy who was born missing a paw. Three-year-old Sapphyre Johnson, a patient at the Shriners Hospitals for Children in Greenville, South Carolina, got to take the dog home after meeting him this week. Sapphyre, whose family lives in Greeneville, Tennessee, was born with only two fingers on each hand and one toe on each foot due to a congenital condition. Doctors decided to amputate her feet as a baby so that she would eventually be able to walk with prosthetics.

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Animal Facts You Never Knew Existed

Animal facts you never knew existed can be both intriguing and almost unnecessary. Regardless, here are a few animal facts in gif format from a wide range of animals including the hippo, dog, giraffe, shark, bear and many more. Enjoy and share with a friend.

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Dog Searches and Finds Friend in Hospital

There’s no denying the bond that develops between people and their pets.  A miniature schnauzer in Cedar Rapids proved that nothing, even distance, can break that bond.  Nancy Franck and her two miniature schnauzers, Sissy and Barney, live in southeast Cedar Rapids. Franck, however, has been staying 15 to 20 blocks away at Mercy Medical Center following a surgery.  She’s been in the hospital for about two weeks.  Last Saturday Nancy’s husband, Dale, was devastated when Sissy unexpectedly ran away from home  “We looked up and there was this dog that was just running across the lobby,” said Mercy Security Officer Samantha Conrad.

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Video: Dog Makes Friends With a Seal

While a woman was walking her dog along a beach in La Cap Ferret, France, they happened upon what has got to be the single friendliest seal.  When the dog and seal began to snuggle, it had to be a real once in a lifetime moment for everyone there.  If one didn’t know any better, you’d almost think the seal has had regular contact with humans and their dogs to think it almost tame.  Remember dear readers, these are still wild animals.  They may display some almost “domesticated” behaviors, but you never know exactly what that animal will do if spooked or feels threatened by something.  It’s always best admire wildlife from a bit of a distance. It’s best for the safety of the wildlife, your pet’s safety, and of course yours as well.

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Disabled Dog Runs With 3D Printed Legs

Derby the dog was born with deformed front legs that left him unable to move faster than a crawl. But now, with the help of a team of orthopedic and 3D-printing experts, he can actually run. Alright, so this is basically a three-minute advertisement for a 3D printing company — but that doesn’t mean it’s not heartwarming (and interesting) as hell.

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Dog Has Cat's Back

Hello and thank you for the insane cat pictures.  Below you will find an example of dog heroism.A cat in need of protection receives it and a further escalation is avoided. That is obviously good news.  But more needs to be done to get at the root of the problem that caused the initial conflict between the two cats. That dog won't always be around to bail its friend out.  Perhaps the bully cat had a rough upbringing. Maybe there was some sort of traumatic incident in its past that makes it act out violently.

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Donkey Rescued From Manhole

What an ass!  A donkey in Switzerland got stuck in a manhole, and authorities needed over an hour to free the poor creature.  Pratteln resident Urs Meyer was surprised when he first spotted the lodged donkey as he walked his dog nearby.  “My initial reaction was it was a stuffed toy, but then I saw it move its ears and shake its head, and [I] realized it was real,” he told Central European News. “I don’t know how the manhole cover ended up being moved but the donkey had clearly fallen inside and was stuck there.”

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Halloween Costume Ideas for Your Pet

Forget your human Halloween costume— it's your cuddly pet's costume that's racking up the likes on Instagram this season.  Ensuring that your furry friend has the cutest costume at the pet parade will require a bit of foresight, preparation and patience. But it's worth it to know that your dog, cat, hamster or guinea pig will be properly decked out for the spookiest day of the year.
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Video: Firefighter Saves Dog From Fire

This firefighter understands that any life -- no matter the species -- is a life worth saving.  Last Thursday, firefighters responded to a burning home in Virginia, rescuing the woman inside the house, CBS6 reported. The emergency responders didn't forget her furry companion, Keiser, and carried the dog out of the home as well. Though the canine made no movement and it appeared as though he wasn't going to survive, firefighter Josh Moore and paramedic Bubby Bish decided to make a last-ditch attempt to save the pet.

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Dog Interrupts Soccer Match To Get Petted

An Argentina Primera Division match between Belgrano and Quilmes had to be halted late in the first half when a dog wandered onto the pitch.  "Humans — I command you to stop playing your silly games and shower me with affection," the dog said before finding a Quilmes player who could not resist its charms and began to pet it. Another Quilmes player, Jonathan Zacaria, then picked up the dog and carried it off the pitch.  The match was then able to resume and ended in a 1-1 draw. Clearly that dog was the day's only winner.

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Dog Named 'Lazarus' Survives Euthanasia Attempt

Animal control officer Wanda Snell knows what she saw: A veterinarian inserted a needle into the black-and-brown mutt and injected a chemical meant to euthanize the dog no one had adopted. The animal moved a bit and was still and quiet by the time she left the shelter for home.  What Snell can't explain is how or why a mixed-breed dog that nobody wanted recovered overnight and has since bounced back fully from what should have been a lethal injection.

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