All the Creatures

photo courtesy of Venetian Masks

Would it come as a surprise to you to learn that Mardi Gras is celebrated all over the world? It surprised me, as I thought it was strictly a new world event that was centered in New Orleans and south America. Mardi Gras is the period of celebration that leads up to Ash Wednesday, a Christian day that marks the beginning of Lent (the period where Christ went through 40 days of fasting). In the period of Mardi Gras varies from country to country and even here in the USA each city has a different number of days or weeks that parties, masked balls and celebrations take place.

Animals also have their part in the celebrations. They are not just symbolized in the Mardi Gras masks, also called Venetian Masks, as shown in the photo above. Animals are the benefactors of several parades in New Orleans, where money is collected and donated to local shelters. Dogs are commonly dressed up and accompany their owners in the parades. There is even a celebration of dead and lost pets.

So you see, Mardi Gras is not just for humans.

All the Creatures

With heat waves going on in full swing over the majority of the USA, here are some suggestions on how you can help your pets beat the heat:

Provide shade in an area that has breeze. Shade with stagnate air is almost as bad as not having any shade at all. Like in the photo above you can also provide a misting system for your pets. The misting systems also work well for livestock in barns as well as for dogs. Those of you that live in a high humidity area might want to just supply a breeze from fans, either overhead fans or free standing fans. Many local feed stores have huge free standing fans for sale for barns and other livestock areas. Here are what they look like:

Of course you want to make sure that all of your pets and livestock have plenty of water available. In fact I am now about to go outside and check all of the livestock tanks to make sure they are full.  At the same time I will check all of the animals to see if any of them are suffering from the heat.

For caged birds, you can make them comfortable by providing the occasional misting of water from a spray bottle.

All the Creatures

Horse owners and other livestock owners should be aware of what plants can kill their animals. For example did you know that just one leaf of an oleander plant can kill a horse in a matter of hours? Yet most unaware horse owners have those plants growing as ornamental bushes in their landscape. I have a friend that almost went ballistic when a neighbor or hers trimmed his oleander bushes and threw the trimmings into her pasture. Her neighbor certainly got educated later that day by her and her husband the deputy sheriff.

If you own livestock, you must educate yourself to the dangers of poisonous plants that your animals might come in contact with. Get yourself a good book on plants with lots and lots of full color photos like, “All About Poisonous Plants.” Most feed stores have them and of course you can find them on sale all over the internet.

Livestock owners that feed their animals baled hays should also be able to identify poisonous plants that have been dried and baled in their hay. Some plants are harmless at certain stages of their growth so you need to be aware of the plants poisonous life cycle.

Protect your animals and get educated about poisonous plants.

All the Creatures