There's a bunch of animal lovers here on the The Advertiser staff.  I wanted to share their pets with you.

Enjoy looking at these great photos!

Patches, taking a snooze, was recently adopted from the Hawaii Animal Sanctuary by Assistant Business Editor Alan Yonan and family.

 

Rocket is a 5-month old Pomeranian-Papillon puppy that belongs to Business Writer Greg Wiles' daughter.

 

Snoopy (L), a Teddy guinea pig and Coco (R), an American smooth coated guinea pig, reside with the Publisher's Executive Assistant Karen Emoto.

 

"Lennie is a blennie," says John Garcia, the Advertiser's Digital Supervisor of Design. A blennie is a salt-water goby fish.

 

Keoni , along with Lennie, lives with John Garcia.

 

 

Jane Morita-Sibley of Composing has three pomeranians at home. Mele(L), Miki (middle) and Koa (R) enjoy the cool waterbed in this hot weather.

 

Eugene Tanner, former Advertiser photographer, shares his home with two Exotic cats. Exotics are Persian cats bred to have short hair. Lani (L) likes hug and clean KitKit (R).

 

Page Designer Elizabeth House took this photo of Yoda while he was perched on top of the door.

 

Chester is a very famous lovebird. She (yes, she) appears in all of our Petland ads and resides with graphic artist Cindy Oshita.

 

City reporter Michael Tsai adopted Bear as a kitten from the Hawaiian Humane Society over fifteen years ago. She was so small, she fit in his hand.

 

Bobo, a Bull Mastiff, lives with Sports Reporter Stephen Tsai. Stephen says, "He's scares the mailman."

 

Ozzy is a 2 year old Labrador Retriever. His human is Copy Editor Richard Couch.

 

Business Writer Robbie Dingeman's dog, Dusty, a 6 year old Miniature Schnauzer, mugs for the camera.

 

Border Collie mixes, Sumo and Sushi,  came all the way from Kentucky with News Editor Dave Putnam.

*****
Everyone, please have a safe 4th of July.

Remember to keep pets inside and kept calm during the fireworks. Please click on the HSUS's link below for tips on keeping your pets stress free on Independence Day.

Fireworks safety

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I am on vacation from today and will return to work on Thursday, July 9.  See you then!

Sha-lei, a rare Styan red panda cub who was born on June 13, 2009, is presented to the media at the Edmonton Valley Zoo in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on Tuesday, June 30, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jimmy Jeong)

***

Although Sha-Lei may not seem very red right now, her coat will change into a bright orange with white banded face, very similar to a racoon.

So cute!

 ****

ADDED ON 7/1/09 at 6 p.m.   Erhuboy wanted to see what Sha-lei would look like as a grownup.  

Here's a grown red panda:

 

In this photo taken, June 19, 2009, red panda mom Shan Tou curls up with her triplet babies at the Red River Zoo in Fargo, N.D.  (AP Photo/The Forum, Carrie Snyder)

Gibson is a Harlequin Great Dane that is considered the world's tallest dog by the Guiness Book of World Records. Standing on his back legs, this California dog is over 7 feet tall.  (He's not to be confused with the world's largest dog, an English Mastiff named Hercules, that weighs 282 pounds.)

Several weeks ago, this seven year old giant was diagnosed with bone cancer in his right front leg. Vets amputated the leg to save his life.

Gibson is still getting used to the 'balancing act' by positioning his only front leg in the center of his body while standing and walking. 

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2009/06/26/lopez.tallest.dog.KOVR 

Please send healing thoughts to Gibson. Even after what he's been through, he's upbeat and enjoys life.

We can all learn from our pets.  No matter how tough life is for them, nothing gets them down.

People.com wrote a story yesterday on the whereabouts of Bubbles, Michael Jackson's chimpanzee, that used to live with him in Neverland in the 80's and 90's.

Four years ago, Michael gave Bubbles to a primate sanctuary, Center for Great Apes,  in Florida. He seems to be doing well and interacting with the other resident primates.

Sanctuary folks say Bubbles hasn't been told of Jackson's death.

http://www.peoplepets.com/news/celebrities/whatever-happened-to-michael-jackson-s-chimp-bubbles/1

Ada Yamaki gives Kayla her twice-daily insulin shot. (Photo by M. Demain)

Human diseases affect animals too. When a pet has a chronic illness, there are many owners that go the extra mile to make sure their pet lives a long and happy life.

Here's a story about a very lucky cat and her loving owner.

Ada Yamaki of Halawa has a cat with special needs.

Kayla is a 13-year old, long-haired Maine Coon cat. She's a big girl, weighing in at 14 pounds. Yamaki got her as a gift from her husband  while they were living in Georgia. He was going away to the Middle East and so he gave her the little green-eyed kitten to keep her company.

When Yamaki decided to move back to Hawaii in 2001, she drove from Georgia to California with Kayla in a pet carrier, and then took a flight to Hawaii.

About three years ago, Yamaki noticed that Kayla wasn't quite right. She was drinking an unusual amount of water. She was lethargic and going to the bathroom very frequently.

Yamaki immediately took her to Dr. Peter Herman in Pearl City. The diagnosis was diabetes. "She needs insulin shots two times a day and she eats a special type of diabetic food called D/M."

Kayla's health improved immediately on insulin and her new diet. "She is doing much better. I take her to the vet once a month to get her blood tested. Dr. Herman is great with diabetic cats and a lot of his patients come to him for that reason. His cat lived to 18 years old with diabetes."

Giving injections wasn't easy at first, but now Yamaki is a pro. "It was hard in the beginning since I didn't want to hurt her or do the wrong thing. Now since it's become a routine, it's okay. It's just a matter of having a schedule to give the shots on time at 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. everyday," says Yamaki.

When Yamaki decided to visit Maui this past spring, she took Kayla with her because she was able to stay at a relative's home. "Leaving her at the vet was going to cost a lot, so I decided to take her with me and give her the shots myself."

How's Kayla handling her chronic illness? Kayla is quite a trooper. When Yamaki shows her the needle, she jumps on the couch and waits for the injection in the scruff of her neck. Perhaps she knows, it'll make her feel better.