Results tagged “squirrel” from South Bay Pets

I was walking the stupid dog this morning through the park near my house. Going there is a treat for Rocket because there are millions of squirrels there. It's where all squrrels come from. It's Ground Zero of squirreldom.

Anyway, like dogs everywhere, Rocket loves to chase squirrels. He's never actually caught any, but they do the kabuki dance, which involves the squirrel running up a tree and the bawl-mouthed dog jumping up and down and making a horrible racket.

But today, a squirrel called Rocket's bluff. He saw the squirrel on the trail in front of us, but instead of running, the squirrel just stood there staring at him.

This instantly shut Rocket up. We walked closer and the squrrel stood his ground. Rocket was stunned. He didn't know what to do. The squirrel wasn't playing by the rules.

He looked up at me, then back to the squirrel, which was just standing there. We got even closer.

Finally, the varmint took off. Rocket was shaken out of his trance. And they both ran for the nearest tree.

Order was restored in the universe. But someday, squrrrels and dogs will live together in peaceful harmony.

That headline looks like something from a Hunter S. Thompson story, but it's not. A rabid bat WAS found earlier this month. OK, it wasn't in your backyard. It was in Griffith Park. which is kind of like everybody's backyard. Public health officials are asking anyone who touched the animal contact a doctor for possible anti-rabies treatment.

I think anybody who touches any kind of bat should have their head examined, never mind tested for rabies.

Rabies, or "hyderphobie" as they called it in "Old Yeller," is a very treatable disease that is found most commonly in wild animals like bats and raccoons and squirrels. Household pets account for fewer than 10 percent of rabies cases, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Here, read about it for yourself.

Only a few people die a year in the United States from it, but that's too many. If you're off in the woods and come into contact with a wild mammal, call your doctor and get treated.

And make sure your pets get their shots on time. Yeller got rabies and you know how that turned out!

A vet once told me that they don't give you big shots in the stomach to treat the disease anymore, but, not being a doctor myself, I can't vouch for that.  The vet also told me the reason for the stomach shots is that the antidote is so potent that the stomach is the only place in the body that won't be destroyed by it.

Well, that's what a vet told me once anyway.