/oss/taxonomy/term/296/all en /oss/article/health/my-dog-ate-chocolate-and-he-was-fine-so-whats-big-deal <p>If you ask a dog owner what dogs cannot eat, they’ll list some foods like onions, garlic, rhubarb, grapes and chocolate. (As an aside, if they say grains, <a href="/oss/article/health-nutrition/feeding-dogs-theyre-human-raw-grain-free-and-vegan-diets-dogs">don’t listen to them</a>.) Dogs' inability to safely consume chocolate is common knowledge, but thanks to their proclivity for eating anything they can get their mouths on, many dogs are nonetheless treated for ingesting chocolate every year.</p> Thu, 22 Aug 2019 15:48:08 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 7878 at /oss /oss/article/did-you-know-general-science/your-pet-cat-may-be-bit-more-dangerous-you-think <p>Cat scratch disease (CSD) is an infection resulting from a scratch or bite of a cat (or, in rarer cases, dogs or other animals). It is not the same thing as Cat Scratch Fever, an album by Ted Nugent, although CSD can cause a fever, as well as swollen lymph nodes, lethargy, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4184768/">neuroretinitis</a> and headaches.<br /> <br /></p> Fri, 17 May 2019 16:00:00 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 7768 at /oss /oss/article/nutrition/what-should-i-be <p>If you have a dog, you don’t need me to tell you how important food is to their happiness. But even if you realize how much your dog loves food (the speed with which they gobble it up is a good clue) you may not realize how complex dog foods can be. There are upwards of <a href="https://www.dailydogstuff.com/us-pet-ownership-statistics/">60 million dogs in the U.S.</a>, and all of these dogs need to eat.</p> Fri, 01 Mar 2019 23:08:50 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 7620 at /oss /oss/article/history/westinghousing-kind-experiments-would-never-take-place-today-thank-goodness <p>In the late 1880s the two giants in the burgeoning field of electricity, namely Thomas Edison and Georges Westinghouse, squared off in what has been called The Battle of The Currents. Edison was the champion of transmitting electricity by direct current, whereas Westinghouse thought that alternating current was a far more efficient way of delivering electricity since it could be transformed to higher voltages, which meant a lower loss of transmission over distances.</p> Thu, 06 Dec 2018 17:12:26 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 7479 at /oss /oss/article/did-you-know/cats-can-get-leukaemia-and-its-contagious <p>Cat’s can be infected with a virus called Feline Leukaemia Virus (FeLV), a virus which, if not fought by the kitty’s immune system before <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feline_leukemia_virus#Progression">a certain infection stage</a>, can cause secondary infections, anemia, weight loss and <a href="https://www.webmd.com/cancer/lymphoma/lymphoma-cancer#1">lymphomas</a> (cancer of the lymph nodes). FeLV is very contagious, and it’s spread through bodily fluids like blood, saliva and milk, meaning that cats can be exposed during fights, nursing or even just sharing bowls.</p> Sat, 04 Nov 2017 16:58:11 +0000 Ada McVean B.Sc. 6807 at /oss /oss/article/environment-health-news/cats-and-catnip <p style="text-align:justify">What do we know about cats? You show them a litter box and they will from that moment on never make anywhere else in the house. Try that with a dog. Cats don’t have receptors for sweets, so you can’t train them by offering them sweet treats. In fact, you can’t train  them at all. That’s supposedly because they are too smart to cater to human whims. I don’t know about that; after all, they will chase the beam of a laser pointer ad nauseum, never learning that they cannot catch it.</p> Sun, 07 Aug 2016 14:18:19 +0000 Joe Schwarcz 2350 at /oss