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.

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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!

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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!

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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)

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.

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

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.

Pabst competes in the World's Ugliest Dog Contest at the Sonoma-Marin Fair on Friday, June 26, 2009, in Petaluma, Calif. The toothy 4-year-old Boxer mix won top honors. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

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I love this guy's underbite.  He's cute. Anyone agree with me?

The competition on Animal Planet always brings a mix of Chinese-Cresteds, Pug and Bulldogs and is extremely fun to watch.  

Happy Friday, all!

By SHARON L. PETERS
USA TODAY

Wedding attendants are going to the dogs
Pet-loving couples are increasingly including their dogs (and other pets, to a much lesser degree) in the wedding parties of some very formal weddings — decking them out in silk and satin and including them in the receiving line, on the program and in the portraits.

“Many people think of their pets as family members, and they wouldn’t think of having a special day like this without that member,” says Celina Bojorquez, co-owner of Beverly Hills Mutt Club, purveyor of upscale accessories like doggie tuxedos ($70 and up) and couture dresses ($170 to $500).

The shop has outfitted canines for scores of weddings in the last couple of years. Not all have been done up in full-dress regalia. Bojorquez has sold  silk ties and bow ties, satin bandanas, crystal leads and collars, and, in one case, a gold harness and leash to match the bride’s gold dress.

Though pets have long been part of casual weddings in meadows, on mountaintops and at the seashore, their participation at affairs at the most ornate churches and refined locales is a more recent phenomenon.

Not everyone is completely enchanted with the notion of animals in the aisles or at the altar. Many locales prohibit them; many families and wedding planners discourage their participation.

Lynda Barness of I Do Wedding Consulting in Philadelphia always warns couples of the potential perils — “animals are animals, and they can do animal things,” she says — and so far all her clients have concluded that including pets in the wedding party isn’t necessary. “But as part of the portraits, that’s just fine.”

Her concerns range from potty issues to a dog acting up because it’s not used to being in a room with 300 people to the fact that “the bride and the groom and others in the wedding party have enough to tend to that day.”

Beth Anstandig of Los Gatos, Calif., acknowledges there may be matters to work out but says having her own two border collies involved made her wedding day even more special. “The guests loved it,” she says. And she and her husband cherish the photos featuring the dogs — especially because both have since died.

“We are so happy to be able to look back and remember them as they were on that day.”He’s a loved one, too.“The family was a little skeptical,” Kaycee English says with a chuckle about the moment last year when she announced that Bowser, the Australian shepherd pup she and John English had fallen for on Petfinder.com, would be part of her fancy wedding.

“The people I loved would be there, and there was no way Bowser wouldn’t be,” says English, of Freehold, N.J., who works for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She bought Bowser a canine ring-bearer outfit, and he pulled off his wedding-day role without incident (dissolving a worried dad’s concern about crazy-dog potential and lost rings).

No pets? ’Unimaginable’
Los Gatos, Calif., psychotherapist Beth Anstandig was something of a trendsetter when, five years ago, she informed her stunned parents that her beloved border collies, Levi, 11, and blue-eyed Frank, 9, would be attending her very fancy, very formal wedding.

The dogs had joined her on road trips, seen her through grad school, accompanied her to classes when she was a teacher and “helped me grow up,” she says. It would have been “unimaginable” to have such an important day without them.

Her fiance, Eric Killough, had grown to love the dogs, too. He joked that he intended to have an “adoption ceremony” to formalize his relationship with them.

On the wedding day, a groomsman walked Levi and Frank down the aisle to the altar, and there they remained quietly throughout the vows. “They weren’t there because it was cute to have them there,” Anstandig says. “They were there because they belonged there. It would have felt incomplete without them.”

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If you were getting married, would you include your dog in the wedding?

Hopefully this becomes a trend.

If I got married again, I'd include my dog(s) at the wedding. Since my friends and family know me well, they wouldn't be surprised at all.

What's in a name? Snag L. Tooth catches a cat nap at his home in Oregon.(AP Photo/Veterinary Pet Insurance)

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More and more people are naming their pets 'human' names in the 21st century. Names like Fido and Rover are a thing of the past. 

In a Petside.com poll, names like Max, Lucy, Maggie and Bailey are most the popular. 

Why give your pet a human name?  Now more than ever, pets are considered a  member of the family. People let pets sleep in their beds, take them on vacation, include them in Christmas card photos and even refer to them at their "kids."

http://www.petside.com/wellness/adoption-rescue/most_popular_pet_names_of_2008.php

Of course, pets are part of the family! They contribute to the entire family's well-being by cheering us up on sad days, reducing our stress levels, providing companionship and always giving us unconditional love.

We are certainly lucky to have pets in our lives. 

A black tip reef shark cruises in a tank at Monterey Bay Aquarium in this file photo. (AP Photo/Salinas Californian, RichardGreen)

Is there an animal that really makes you very afraid?

The general term for fear of animals is called “zoophobia.”  If the fear is of a particular type of animal, such as spiders, the condition is called “arachnophobia,”and so on.

While in elementary school, I saw the original “Jaws” in 1975. That movie terrified me back then and even to this day. Just thinking about that great white shark eating people, sends shivers down my spine.  I can even hear the creepy music now of the shark approaching. It gives me the creeps.

While flipping through TV channels, whenever “Jaws” or any other type of shark movie is on, I have to change the channel. I don' t care if it's a documentary about sharks on the Discovery Channel, I'm too afraid to watch.  I must have “sharkophobia.”  

A very close second to my sharkophobia is my fear of centipedes. Those nasty creatures always get into the house.  When I see one, I use a “bug stick” to snatch the offending creature and quickly remove it out of the house.

People say it's best to chop the centipede in little pieces, but I'm afraid it will run away during my attempt to chop it. My solution:  put in a bucket of bleach, bug stick and all, and leave it overnight.

The fear of centipedes is not called “centipedophobia,” but  “myriopodophobia.”  Whatever it's called,  I definitely have that too. Eeeck!