* According to Veterinary Pet Insurance, the top 3 most expensive conditions in pets are disk disease, lung cancer, and gastric torsion in dogs; and foreign body ingestion (small intestine), urinary tract reconstruction, and foreign body ingestion (stomach) in cats. (Press release 1/19/08)
* Cats step with both left legs, then both right legs when they walk or run. The only other animals that do this are the giraffe, camel and the maned wolf. (www.didyouknow.cd/animals)
* According to recent national survey, if a recession hits in 2008, pet owners are far more likely to cut back on luxury items, electronics, even groceries, than on care or supplies for their pets. (Press release 1/21/07)
* If people could gorge like crocodiles, a 130 pound person could down a 30 pound hamburger in one sitting. Crocodiles can eat this way because of a heart valve that lets blood bypass the lungs and flow through straight to the stomach, enabling secretion of gastric acid extraordinarily quickly. (2008 LiveScience.com)
* All ancestral roads for the modern day domestic cat lead back to the Fertile Crescent, the area around the eastern end of the Mediterranean, according to researchers at the University of California-Davis. (Press release 1/28/08)
* Rather than adopting-and abandoning-a live chick or bunny this Easter, kids can adopt their very own virtual pets online, and learn to build a simple Web page to give their pets a home. (holidays.kaboose.com/easter-adopt.html)
* Flare-ups of avian flu in Vietnam have prompted many diners to turn from chicken to rat. Rats have been a delicacy in rural areas of Vietnam for centuries; urban area restaurants are featuring it grilled with lemon grass or roasted in garlic on their menus in 2008, the Year of the Rat. (Wall Street Journal 2/7/08)
* Fleas can jump 130 times higher than their own height. In human terms this is equal to a 6-foot person jumping 780 feet into the air. (www.sciensational.com)
