Peppermint Petcare

Collegiate Ethology major, aspiring dog trainer, small pet enthusiast. Never stop learning. She/her Sideblog to Peppermintprism

[peppermintpetcare]

Pigeon Lab Living Improvements

Hello birdblr!

I’m looking for input on a welfare upgrade project. My university has a pigeon lab for the psychology students to conduct behavior research in. The research itself gives me no welfare concerns, it’s just clicker training and reinforcement schedules in operant chambers. No use of aversives that I’ve seen and everything is overseen by the IACUC (Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee).

Unfortunately however, the living conditions for the birds leaves a lot to be desired (see photo above) They are housed in 24 individual cages, each of which is a 1sqft cube. Wire floor, no perches, no platforms.

In a perfect world, I’d love to build these birds an open-air communal aviary with all the enrichment in the world, but there are obviously constraints. Also I am a student, not faculty, so my power to enact change may be limited in ways I do not anticipate.

Constraints:

Birds must still be useful for behavior research (standardization)

Funding

New enclosures must be low-maintenance

Species/breed appropriate improvements for White Carneau Pigeons

Time (one year)

Space inside the room

COVID19

Resources:

My club, who is already onboard with this idea

A few select faculty members’ support

One intensely passionate ethology major (me)

I will fund this project myself if I have to.

I will not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. I want these birds to have tangibly better lives before I graduate. Here’s my first draft of ideas for new cages.

Ideally I only want to make changes that are species-appropriate, so any advice or design feedback is appreciated!

[bumblebeebats]

Why is it that every time I google something like "Are olives poisonous to cats" the top results are always like "Fun fact: Cats are carnivores! This means that they eat meat. There is no reason to include olives in a cat's diet. You should feed your cat cat food, which is dry or wet food especially designed for cats. You can purchase this at a store." like is there a single person alive on the planet who's googled "Are blueberry muffins safe for cats" because they're planning on switching their cat to a muffin-only diet??? No, I'm asking because the little bastard somehow popped open the packet while I was putting away the groceries and dragged one under the couch before I could react and now I need to know if I should call the after-hours vet. "Cats should not eat spaghetti." NO SHIT, SHERLOCK!!!! "Try to keep human food away from cats." i live in a studio apartment with a completely silent and permanently hungry apex predator who has the intelligence of a toddler and the desperate Machiavellian cunning of a creature who spent his formative months on the streets. He can already open doors and he is this 👌 close to learning how to open the microwave. He is stronger than me and covered in knives. So im gonna do my best but for the moment i just need you to tell me whether this yoghurt is going to kill my son y/n

[spectralhauntings]

I've been using the pet poison hotline's poison list cause it has a search function. It also tells you whether something is mildly, moderately, or severely toxic which can be very handy! It doesn't contain like everything but it might be a good place to start, it also includes plants for fellow houseplant lovers <3

Explore Pet Poison Helpline®s vast knowledge on poisons by reviewing our pet poison list. Explore our top 10 poison and holiday poison lists

[littlemousling]

For plants specifically, there’s also a wildly detailed set of posts and listings about toxicity on the old, wonderful, Plants Are the Strangest People blog

[pangur-and-grim]

[bantaro-bird]

Tips for understanding your cat's signals.

[talesfromtreatment]

Please please please. Please. PLEASE.

If your pet has a surgery, and is sent home with a "cone of shame"... LEAVE THE FUCKING CONE ON.

We did not put that cone on to torment your pet. We put that cone on so that your pet's insides stay inside. Yes, I know they're running into things and look very very sad. I am not being heartless when I say "I don't care. The cone stays on." I'm trying to keep your pet safe.

We've had 5 different clients take the cone off "for just a minute" in the last 2 weeks. One incision we were able to restaple. One we knocked out to resuture, which the owner had to pay for. Two we are currently managing as open wounds because the owners took the cone off a second time.... and one had to go to emergency to have her guts put back into her body after they were dragging on the bottom of the crate ("but it seemed uncomfortable to sleep in...")

In the VERY VERY RARE occasion that you need to temporarily take the cone off for the pet to eat or drink properly you must be actively staring at your pet the whole time the cone is off. Not just in the same room. Not on your phone. Not cooking. Not "turned around for a moment". Actively staring like you're a little kid who just found the most fascinating bug to ever cross your path.

Until your vet says otherwise, your pet is a Mandalorian, a Child of The Watch. The cone STAYS ON.

[brighthounds]

okay i promise i'm only going to do this the one time. I promise I'm not going to continue to be annoying about this. but i am sharing my instagram post to tumblr because idk why not yolo. maybe this will actually be useful to somebody. and more can be found on the world's most cursed website/app.

[brighthounds]

hello again! there is now a free ebook version of this with additional tips, ideas, and thoughts on the subject of dog parenting while chronically ill (written by a dog trainer with chronic illness). It's pay-what-you-want (including the low low price of $0) and you can get it at the above link on Ko-fi.

[voyage-of-the-porn-spreader]

tgis is so fucking funny to me. they accidentally Rock Lee'd a retired racehorse

[voyage-of-the-porn-spreader]

imagine youre a fat horse and your new neighbour is a personal trainer

[voyage-of-the-porn-spreader]

horse that reads Marcus Aurelius

[voyage-of-the-porn-spreader]

I was wrong. they didnt rock lee him. this horse is literally Gai. and i wish he was my dad

[parakeet]

[hoot-alex]

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

I am so damn pleased with the Sedgwick County Zoo media team, y’all. They just dropped a stellar blog piece on why GenAI slop videos of animals are such a problem - and how to identify them!

The Reality of AI Animal Content – Sedgwick County Zoo

If you spend any time on social media, you’ve probably seen them – bears bouncing on trampolines, apes caught on doorbell cameras, or “rescu

This is the first time I’ve ever seen a zoo or aquarium in the United States speak up broadly about AI. (The only times I can think of any comment at all has maybe individual instances when a deepfake of “their” animal escaping is circulating.) And they did a great job with this piece! It’s succinct, easy to read, and written in a way that doesn’t shame people for engaging with AI content before they knew better.

I think this is exactly the type of resource needed for sending to that family member or friend we all have - the one who isn’t aware of the slop issue and constantly sends you clearly fake videos because they’re “so cute.”

I’d love to have Sedgwick get some public positive reinforcement for taking this stance. If you’re so inclined, a comment on their FB post would be great as it’s likely they’re going to get shit for this from sloppers & co. We really do need animal organizations to stand up for accurate, real animal content and this is a great first step in that direction.

[fjordfolk]

i never really liked the formulation that puppies and young dogs 'push boundaries' because i feel like it suggests a kind of intent i haven't seen in our dogs, and it kinda feeds into that adversarial relationship that some trainers have been shilling for decades where you're always expecting your dog to challenge your authority or whatever.

my nephew has a puppy rn, and they described it as 'throwing out behaviours and seeing what happens' which i liked a lot better?

because at least it doesn't suggest that this semi-sentient bag of bones and slop has a crystal clear picture of the laws of conduct and is hell-bent on testing them, and it doesn't suggest they already know exactly how their behaviour affects the world. they're just behaving. and learning.

[fjordfolk]

something something i think it's a core responsibility of dog owners to ensure a safe environment for our dogs and particularly to create a space where missteps will be met with stability and fairness. and i just think we start off on the wrong end of things when we talk about our dogs like they're opponents

[fjordfolk]

i also think there's some unbalance in the 'acting up' or 'pushing boundaries' narrative that suggests the puppy is out looking for a boundary it knows should be out there somewhere. rather than heading for a desired end in the way that seems easiest and most efficient to them in the moment, and being perhaps suprised to learn there are reasons we don't do it this way.

[montereybayaquarium]

A message from our executive director Julie Packard on the passing of Dr. Jane Goodall:

Dr. Jane Goodall was a remarkable individual—as a scientist, as an advocate for wildlife and wild places, and as a source of profound hope for the future of our planet. She brought such a joyful spirit and unfailing optimism to her work. Most importantly, she recognized that—together—we can make a real difference through our actions, large and small.

I mourn her passing and celebrate her life. It was an honor to know and work with Dr. Goodall. Her legacy will live on, in the lives of the millions of people she inspired.

[timperleyworldofwater]

rip to the person who understood this comic the most

[yourbigfriend-deactivated202604]

Yeah, but here's THE BEST PART OF THE STORY!

(sent to me by my sister this morning)

[viralfrog]

[overlordraax]

[Video description: Video of a person using a spray bottle on their kitchen countertop, only for the camera to pan over to find another person holding a cockatoo in the same position as the cockatoo imitates the sound of the spray bottle. Both people struggle to hold back laughter in the video. end description]

[somecutething]

Dolphins doing cartwheels with an aquarium guest.

(via Ant.Giovanni)

[luidilovins]

I'm loving this new trend of people going to zoos and participating in animal enrichment. We use to observe large exotic animals for our entertainment, but the fact is that we are now trying to make ourselves equally as entertaining for them. It's interactive, completely parpicipatory and I would argue that eventually someone's gonna come up with something new enough that it expland ethologists understanding about how some animals think, problem solve, communicate and feel and I think its fantastic.

[urbanfantasyinspiration]

Human: play?

Aquatic creature from an entirely different branch of the animal tree: play!

[urbanfantasyinspiration]

[homunculus-argument]

Thoughts that are mutual between cats and their people:

Yeah you're cute when you sleep but you didn't let me sleep either so I'm going to annoy you now because I'm bored. Hahah get poked, sleepy idiot.

How do you not comprehend this when I am literally staring at you. Like I understand that your brain can't understand things this nuanced but come on, how do you not get this.

I don't know if you know that what I am currently doing is an expression of affection, but that won't stop me. Knowing that I showed you that I love you is enough.

I heard a crinkly material and the sound of you chewing so I have to know what's in your mouth RIGHT FUCKING NOW.

I can't communicate with you and you can't communicate with me, so I'm just copying the tone of the sound you're making in hopes that you understand that I try.

You are doing activities beyond my comprehension, and I find this fascinating. I will never understand what the fuck you are trying to achieve here, but I am intrigued nonetheless.

Hey are you ok, you haven't done your weird thing in a while. Yeah I don't get why you do that but I know you do that when you're ok.

[synapsid-taxonomy]

I’m gonna talk about the Fuegian dog.

The Fuegian “dog” is the third, forgotten type of domesticated canid, behind the domestic dog and domesticated red foxes. For you see, the Fuegian dog was domesticated from the culpeo (Lycalopex culpaeus). They’re good dogs, Brent:

The Fuegian dog was domesticated by the people of Tierra del Fuego (reports differ regarding whether it was the Yaghan or the Selk’nam people who domesticated them. Could have been both). According to accounts, they would have looked more or less like what you’d expect from a domesticated culpeo: roughly coyote-sized and long-snouted, with pointy upright ears and a long fluffy tail. One report even claims they had webbed feet. Reported colorations range from tawny to gray to white, with patches of black, tan, or white. It apparently barked.

European colonizers did not think highly of the dogs. A French captain in 1883 described it as “ugly […] it looks quite like the fox”. They were noted to be important to Fuegian peoples. Some European reports claim they were affectionate and protective of their masters; others claim they were not particularly loyal when their masters were in danger. They were noted to be used for warmth and hunting otters, and I bet there were more uses the Europeans didn’t notice or write down.

At some point between 1895 and 1919, they were exterminated because the Europeans were scared of them-I mean, “they were a threat to men and cattle”. This would be shortly followed by a genocide of the indigenous people of Tierra del Fuego. There are surviving photos of Selk’nam with dogs, but to me they look more like introduced European dogs.

As of today, only two stuffed specimens of the Fuegian dog remain. Because of this, visiting Punta Arenas and seeing one in person is on my bucket list.

And that’s basically everything that’s known about them.

Restoration of a Fuegian dog by Maija Karala