Tigertail Foods |

Holy Cow! Jazz Band Plays for Bovine Audience (video)

Written by Alexis on September 26, 2011 · Leave a Comment

For your listening pleasure enjoy the dulcet tones of “The New Hot 5″ - for your visual pleasure enjoy watching them play for an unusual, but appreciative, audience.

Utah-based jazz band ‘The New Hot 5′ performed for a field of cows in Autrans, France, who seem to really like the music. And, why not? Earlier this year we found out that cows can get stressed out when they are separated from their best bovine buds and have a sense of humor (trust me, check this one out for a laugh).

The cow bell accompaniment added a nice touch, no?

—–

September’s Rescue of the Month is SNAP of San Diego (Spay Neuter Action Project). “SNAP is the first and only organization in San Diego County that provides comprehensive programs to solve the core causes of pet overpopulation and its tragic consequences.” A portion of every unaffiliated purchase will go to help support SNAP.

—–

Share this:

Friday Quote – Happy First Day of Autumn! (Muir)

Written by Alexis on September 23, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Welcome to autumn! It officially arrived this morning at 9:04 AM UTC/GMT. Today marks the day when the sun’s path on the Earth’s face crosses over the equator and moves into the southern hemisphere. Our daylight and nighttime hours are close to being equal – since the sun’s relative position is closest to the equator – however, that doesn’t mean we have 12 hours of daylight/12 hours of night. Depending on where you are, you might still have more daylight than not.

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.
~John Muir

So will you celebrate the first day of autumn with dancing under the light of the moon? Or maybe something a little more tame like going for a hike and looking for fall foliage? However you choose to recognize the new season, have a good time doing it!

See you back here Monday!

—–

Tigertail Foods Just-a-Bite Biscotti has a cookie flavor to make any dog happy – from the yummy goodness of Peanut Butter & Banana to drool-inducing Cheese Pizza. Check out our selection . . . and if you can’t decide on just one flavor get a bag of the blends. Your dog will get to try three different flavor treats in one bag. Tigertail Foods’ treats, like all of our products, are entirely natural and made with your dog’s health in mind. No sugar, no salt, no corn or wheat.

—–

Share this:

13 Dogs Hold New World Record… for Skipping Rope (video)

Written by Alexis on September 22, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Earlier this month we brought you news of Harbor, the living dog with the longest ears as per the Guinness Book of World Records, and today we have another entry to tell you about – 13 proud canines are the holders of the new world record for most dogs skipping rope simultaneously.

This admittedly odd activity is the handiwork of the dog handler for “Uchida Geinousha’s ‘Super Wan Wan Circus’”. The trainer, Kaoru, explained, “It actually started by accident one day when Mayonnaise, an incredibly curious poodle, started to try and skip with us. She clearly really enjoyed it and we decided to get the other dogs involved. It’s become part of their playtime!”

The record setting dogs, from left to right, Leo, Doremi, Button, Koume, Aya, Kimchi, Nami, Mayonnaise, Ann, Sumire, Kurobe and Akebi.

The circus owner, Uchida Geinousha, said, “We are very honored to be Guinness World Record holders, and we want to try harder and break even more records with the dogs. The way we teach skipping is as a part of the dog’s playtime, so they definitely see it as something fun. Dogs love skipping. If they didn’t want to do it, they simply wouldn’t.”

So it’s bizarre, but it’s also really cute and the dogs look like they are having fun . . .

Further proof that dogs are the most incredibly patient and willing-to-please best friends we have.

—–

September’s Savings Spotlight item is our Pharmaceutical Grade Emu Oil. We are offering our highest quality emu oil, the 2 ounce size, for 15% off the regular price – now $16.95! An amazing price for the oil that does it all – soothes achy joints, takes the sting out of sunburn and heals kitchen-caused burns, smooths fine lines and wrinkles . . . an anti-inflammatory, an analgesic and is actually transdermal! Don’t be without “Nature’s medicine cabinet in a bottle”!

—–

Share this:

Drunken Moose Gets Stuck in Tree

Written by Alexis on September 21, 2011 · Leave a Comment

I love my job because I get to write headlines like the one above. You have no idea how much joy that one line brought me. Okay, on with the story . . .

Per Johansson came home after work to find that a moose had been having a party in his yard. The evidence was that the moose was three legs up in Johansson’s apple tree, kicking out and bellowing with all it’s tipsy might.

“I thought it looked pretty bad so I called the police who sent out an on-call hunter. But while we were waiting, the neighbours and I started to saw down some of the branches and then the hunter arrived with a saw as well,” said Johansson. (ed note: I don’t believe that the Swedish hunter is maybe the same concept of hunter we have in the US – perhaps closer to game warden.)

They sawed off several branches but the moose didn’t budge. The fire department showed up bent the tree over so the inebriated moose could slide out to freedom.

The common consensus was that the moose (or elk, in Sweden the two are interchangeable. Who knew?) had gone on an all-day bender of fermented apples, a common cause of drunk animals in autumnal Sweden – which, it seems, isn’t as uncommon as one would think. Johansson’s neighbor reported narrowly avoiding the moose with her car earlier in the day, and, at that time, she was positive the moose was intoxicated. So, the moose, after getting loaded on fermented apples, thought it was a good idea to keep reaching higher and higher into the apple tree for more until he finally wound up more in the tree than not and unable to get down.

Once the moose was back on the ground, it did what so many other young drunk males do – it passed out cold. The emergency services made sure the moose was still breathing and asked Johansson to check in on it periodically and call the hunter if the animal seemed to be in distress.

The next morning Johansson came out to see how the moose was doing, which was motivation enough for the moose to get up and go in search of a double latte with extra sugar and a double cheeseburger (the official hangover breakfast of champions). Check out the video of the encounter between man and hungover moose . . . harrowingly stupid human moment at 1:28.

—–

September’s Flavor of the Month is Cheese Pizza! Made with all real ingredients (like all our foods!), Cheese Pizza Just-a-Bite Biscotti has all the taste and flavor that dogs want and will have your dog thinking that he has his own personal delivery guy. Get your order in today before these treats disappear faster than the last slice!

—–

Share this:

Jedi Kittens – May the Fur-ce Be With You (videos)

Written by Alexis on September 20, 2011 · Leave a Comment

"Aren't you a little short for a Jedi knight?"

We all know that the real reason the internet was invented was so we could sit at work and watch cute kitten videos . . . Here’s something to keep the Star Wars/kitten fans happy (that’s pretty much everyone, right?).

The kittens, named Mama JuJu and Manny, belong to Zach King, 21 of Los Angeles, who rescued them from the local pound. King assures views on his YouTube page that the kittens were NOT harmed in the filming of the videos, but in fact saved from a pretty sad fate; when he found them, they were sickly from being premature and both had nasty eye infections (one was completely recovered and the other was finishing his course of antibiotics at the time the first video was shot).

And if light saber-wielding kittens are enough, they also fly X-Wing and TIE fighters before having an epic battle…

King is currently planning future videos, which is sure to make the kittens’ growing fan base very happy.

—–

Want a treat that’ will satisfy your cats and your dogs? Looking for something that’s all natural, made with ingredients you know and trust? Get a bag of Tigertail Foods’ Tuna or Liver Bark! Made with only pure liver or tuna. No chemicals, nothing you can’t pronounce or wonder why it’s in your pets’ food.

—–

Share this:

Panda in Rocking Chair (video)

Written by Alexis on September 19, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Like chocolate and peanut butter, a giant panda in a rocking chair are two great things that go great together . . . to create 36 seconds of cute.

At the end the panda seems to have an attack of the “OHNO!”s. Is it that he can’t get out of the chair? Could it be that he realizes that the chair is made out of bamboo and might’ve made a tasty snack instead of fun place to sit? Maybe he just remembered that he left his book in the other part of the enclosure just after getting comfy?

The world will never know.

—–

Share this:

Animal News Highlights 9/16/11

Written by Alexis on September 16, 2011 · Leave a Comment

It’s Friday, the 16th of September, a beautiful day in the neighborhood, and here’s the rest of the news from the animal world…

Guide dogs perform an amazing service, and when one thinks about the job they have to do it is truly boggling that they grasp what they need to do and why. Now consider all the new distractions that guide dogs cope with, including the almost-silent electric cars . . . It’s that time of year and the great white sharks are on the move to new hunting grounds. In their journeys they are going through one of the world’s most popular surfing areas – Humboldt Bay. Yesterday a shark took one surfer for being a seal, a fav snack among the shark set, and made a grab for him. Fortunately, the surfer made it out with just a broken board and bloody nose . . . The AKC Canine Health Foundation is backing a study on the health and longevity of the S&R dogs deployed to work the Ground Zero site after 9/11. Interesting stats on how they have fared health-wise . . . U.S. troops will be getting more IED-sniffing dogs in Afghanistan . . . Are your garbage cans getting knocked over at night? It could be the work of a rogue panda. Check out the DIY panda trap . . . In the 20 years since the Monks of New Skete wrote their book on dog training (The Art of Raising a Puppy – which was, I think, the first dog training book I ever bought) the world of dog training has evolved. To keep up with the changes the Brothers have released an updated version that focuses on positive reinforcement. I wonder if they still include the “alpha roll”? . . . A Connecticut man is at odds with a black bear who keeps invading his bird feeders. ”The two feeders had been filled with sunflower seeds, the bear emptied both of them and just laid here,” Colbert said. “I went up on my upper deck here, in the backyard, threw an object, made noise, the bear didn’t even look at me. It just continued to lay here like a pet.” However, he refuses to take down the bird feeders because birds are his “passion”. Seems like someone will just have to get used to having a bear in his backyard.

Photo of the Week:
The 2011 Rugby World Cup is being held in New Zealand, a country with more sheep than people. Below is a photo of the fans displaying their favorite country’s colors.

Video of the Week:
The dog was raised with cats, so that explains why his bark sounds like a meow (or nyan, the word the Japanese use to describe the sound a cat makes) . . . everything else about this video is up for grabs.

—–

Share this:

Tiger and Dog Pals Play (video)

Written by Alexis on September 15, 2011 · Leave a Comment

From REXANO (stands for Responsible Exotic Animal Ownership) comes this sweet video of a tiger and his dog pal playing together. The two were raised together from 9 weeks of age and the video’s owner states that they play all the time and neither has ever been hurt.

The tiger is kept in an enclosure unless a human is there to supervise. I’m not sure what type of tiger this is, but he (she?) is just beautiful and check out the unusual striping pattern – maybe a golden tiger, a rare version of the Bengal tiger. If so, this is one of about 30 in existence. The golden tiger isn’t a different species, but get their coloration from a recessive gene (like redheads in the human population).

Anyone else hold their breath while watching that?

—–

Share this:

Post-Bath Riley

Written by Alexis on September 14, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Riley came in from the backyard late last night stinking to high heaven! He jumped up on the couch next to me and I nearly gagged on my ice cream

You know the last thing any of us want to do at 10:30 at night is put the dog in the bathtub, but there was no way I could let whatever Riley had gotten into stay where it was. He sleeps on our bed and the idea of spending the night with a clothespin on my nose didn’t appeal.

The unexpected bath was an interruption to the late-night routine, but at least Riley is a joy to bathe. He hopped right in the tub and stayed there loving the attention and the water . . . until the shampoo had been thoroughly applied and then he figured it was time to get out.

Here are photos of the clean (and completely soap-free!) Riley . . .

Mostly dry and getting drier

and one more after the “run-through-the-house-like-a-wildman” moment . . .

Revving up for the next go 'round!

Today he smells and looks gorgeous, but he keeps eyeing the backyard with a gleam I find highly suspicious!

Who me?

—–

Did you know that Tigertail Foods carries a complete line of Emu Oil products for people as well as pets? We have body lotion, lip balm, shampoo and conditioners for you and grooming products for your pets. There’s something for everyone. Now the whole family can have soft, shiny, healthy coats!

—–

Share this:

Glow-in-the-Dark Kitten Helps in HIV Research

Written by Alexis on September 14, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Florescent protein causes the coat and claws of this genetically-altered cat to glow green under UV light

Move over Ruppy, here comes Glow-in-the-Dark Kitten!

A team of researchers, led by Eric Poeschla of the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, have come up with an adorable helper in the push to find a cure for HIV/AIDS: the kitten who glows green under UV light. Much like the aforementioned Ruppy, puppies that had been genetically altered to glow red under UV lights, this green-glowing kitten has had genetic material, green fluorescent protein to be exact, from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria fused with its own.

So how does the green fluorescent protein help scientists in their research to find a cure? It doesn’t directly, but it acts as a tracking mechanism that allows researchers to know that the kitten’s genetic material was successfully infused with not only the green-glow-gene, but also a gene called TRIMCyp found in HIV-resistant rhesus macaque monkeys. Researchers hope that by infusing this genetic material with the cat’s own, they will create a “naturally” immunity to Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV), which, like HIV in humans, causes AIDS in cats.

HIV and FIV strip the immune system’s T-cells, necessary for fighting off infections (remember, AIDS isn’ the actual cause of death – it is usually caused by some minor infection, like the common cold, that is allowed to run rampant because the immune system is completely disabled). There are key proteins called restriction factors that defend against viruses, but ours and cats’ can’t stand up to HIV/FIV. The rhesus macaque monkey has a restriction factor, TRIMCyp, that is capable of attacking and disabling the HIV/FIV’s outer shield as it tries to invade a cell.

The research team has taken white blood cells from the genetically-altered cats, exposed them to FIV and found that they are immune. They plan to next inject the virus to the cats and, hopefully, find that they are protected.

The cats with the protective genes have reproduced and almost all of their offspring also carry the new genetic material – the green glow and the TRIMCyp.

Poeschla said of his research: “One of the best things about this biomedical research is that it is aimed at benefiting both human and feline health. If you could show that you confer protection to these animals, it would give us a lot of information about protecting humans. It can help cats as much as people.”

—–

Share this: