Blog Posts by Mother Nature Network (mnn.com)

by Laura Moss, Mother Nature Network

Pretzel, the little kitty that couldVeterinary technician Carmen Bernard was driving down a country road outside Jacksonville, Fla., when she spotted what she thought was an opossum in the road. She pulled over to help the critter, but discovered the animal was actually a 5-week-old Siamese kitten.

The kitten's hind legs were twisted and Bernard suspected the cat had been hit by a car, so she took the animal to the vet.

However, according to veterinarians, the kitten wasn't injured but had several severe deformities. X-rays revealed that the cat's right leg was backwards and her kneecap was on the back of her leg. As a result, her leg's muscles and tendons were also reversed, causing her bones to twist. Her left leg was deformed as well, although not as severely as her right.

Also see: Gallery of 7 of the most inspiring disabled pets

The irregularities made it difficult for the kitten to walk and caused her a significant amount of pain. In addition to her twisted legs, the kitten,

By Laura Moss, Mother Nature Network

Corky, a 7-month-old kitten born with a rare birth defect, was scheduled to be euthanized in March, but a vet tech at the pound took a liking to the cat and called CATS Cradle, a Fargo, N.D., no-kill shelter.

"She refused to describe that cat over the phone," says shelter co-founder Gail Ventzke. "She just said 'you have to see this'." So Ventzke and co-founder Carol Stefonkek went to meet the mysterious little kitten.

"When we arrived, she brought this tangled little guy out of the cage area, and from that moment on he was ours," says Ventzke.

She and Stefonkek named the cat Corky and took him straight to North Dakota State University for X-rays. They learned that Corky had been born with a genetic deformity called bilateral arthrogryposis of tarsus, meaning his back legs were backwards and overlapping. The disease is common in cattle, but rare in cats.

Also read: 'Cat Island' is feline's perfect paradise

They contacted several vets, and all

By Laura Moss, Mother Nature Network

People aren't the only ones who get the blues - cats can suffer from depression too.

Behaviorists first recognized depression in cats in the 1990s, and felines can become depressed for several reasons.

A major disruption such as moving, adding or losing a family member or a change in schedule can trigger it. If a cat's owner is going through a stressful time, the animal could also mimic that unhappy behavior.

Also read: 11 ways to beat depression naturally

Depression symptoms
A depressed kitty can exhibit a variety of symptoms, but one of the main indicators of depression or other illness is loss of appetite. If your feline leaves food untouched - especially for more than a day - you should consult your veterinarian.

Additional signs of feline depression include the following:

• Loss of interest in playtime
• Lack of grooming
• Signs of lethargy or changes in personality
• Aggression •

By Laura Moss, Mother Nature Network

Terfel and Pwditat.

When 8-year-old Labrador mix Terfel started losing his eyesight, he was diagnosed with cataracts and began confining himself to his bed to avoid bumping into things.

But then his owner, Judy Godfrey-Brown, let a stray cat into their North Wales home and something amazing happened.

The cat, named Pwditat, approached Terfel and seemed to sense that he couldn't see. Using her paws, she coaxed him out of his basket and led him out into the garden.

Also read: Recovery of cat named 'Pretzel' inspires Facebook fans

"Pwditat immediately seemed to know that Terfel is blind through some sort of sixth sense that animals have," said Anne Cragg, a friend who looked after the animals when Godfrey-Brown was in the hospital.

"They're fantastic friends. They really love each other. They are glued to each other and even sleep together now," she said.

Today, the unlikely pair is virtually inseparable and Pwditat serves as Terfel's

By John Platt, Mother Nature Network

Hippos may look cute, but they are actually quite dangerous. Thousands of people are killed or injured by hippos in Africa every year. The 8,000-pound beasts have a mouth full of powerful tusks and sharp teeth and are both territorial and almost abnormally aggressive. One man who is lucky to have survived a hippo attack 17 years ago recounted his tale last week for The Guardian.

"I was engulfed in darkness," wrote Paul Templer of the attack on Zambezi River in Zimbabwe. "There was no transition at all, no sense of approaching danger. It was as if I had suddenly gone blind and deaf."

Although it took him a few moments to realize it, the upper half of Templer's body was firmly inside a bull hippo's mouth. "I seemed to be trapped in something slimy," he wrote. "There was a terrible, sulphurous smell, like rotten eggs, and a tremendous pressure against my chest."

Also see: 11 animals more likely to kill you than sharks

The bull,

Determine the ancestry of your catIs your cat really a purebred Persian? Or is he more of a Maine Coon mix? Thanks to the University of California's cat ancestry test, you can now find out.

The Feline Genetics Laboratory's Cat Ancestry test uses a DNA sample from your cat to determine if your pet's parents or grandparents belong to one of 29 "major fancy cat breeds."

Once DNA is isolated from the cotton swab, the lab tests for specific nucleotide polymorphisms and generates a profile. This profile is compared to a database of global cat profiles to see which geographical origin of cat it shares the most variants with.

Also read: Pet breed tests: Do they really work?

There are eight racial populations of origin, but most cat breeds can be traced back to Western Europe, South Asia, Egypt or the Eastern Mediterranean.

Dr. Leslie Lyons created the database by collecting DNA samples from cats worldwide at shows held by the Cat Fanciers' Association and the International Cat Association.

Next, the lab compares the DNA

by Laura Moss, Mother Nature Network

Some hospitals now allow visits from your dogA growing number of hospitals are adopting personal pet policies, and Rush University Medical Center recently became the first Chicago-area hospital to allow pets in patients' rooms.

After three years of study, Rush decided that the emotional benefits to patients outweighed the risks, and the policy was approved in December.

While many hospitals allow visits from therapy animals, until recently health care professionals had to deny requests to bring family pets into patient rooms. But hospital policies have begun to change.

Also read: 10 ways owning a pet benefits your health

Today, in addition to Rush, the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore lets family pets visit their owners, as does the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics in Iowa City; Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center in Richmond; and more than a dozen others.

North Shore University Hospital in Long Island even allows pets to stay overnight with patients in

by Melissa Breyer, Mother Nature Network

The ancient Egyptians domesticated cats some 4,000 years ago, but a modern taste for all things exotic is working to undo that with the introduction of half-wild cats. Breeders bored with mixing plain old domestic mousers for new designer blends (hello, poodle cats) have taken to mating house cats with medium-size wild cats to create new animals that will prowl your shag carpet as if it were the grasslands of Africa.

According to The International Cat Association (TICA), the first effort to breed a wild cat with a domestic feline was in 1963 when Jean S. Mill "invented" the Bengal by crossing a house cat with the Asian leopard cat to create an animal with, "the loving nature of a favored fireside tabby and the striking look associated with leopards, ocelots and jaguars."

Also see: Photos of 11 amazing hybrid animals

A 4-month-old F1 Savannah catSince then, a whole menagerie of "living room leopards" has been spawned, including the Bristol (domestic