Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
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Feet thump against the floor in time to non-stop scratching and teeth nip at fur in frenzied concentration, punctuated by an occasional whine of misery. For such tiny little critters, fleas have a remarkable knack for being hard to ignore, especially when they take up residence on the family pet. Prolific in warm weather, flat bodied and equipped with hook-like claws that enable them to cling to flesh and hair, fleas crawl through the fur of pets, biting and feeding on them....
Inconsolable and flooded with irrational panic, dealing with a frightened animal can be an extremely difficult task. Welcome to thunderstorm season on the High Plains. Rain is good, but the thunder and lightning that often accompanies it can transform normally happy pets into quivering, scrambling and unpredictable masses of temporary-psychosis. For about a week, the region has been visited by afternoon and evening thunderstorms, and if predictions are accurate, there’s m...
Knowing what someone is saying or, more importantly, what they mean, goes to the heart of getting along — a gap that sometimes is bridged between species that share environments. Animals often learn to recognize the alarm calls of cohabitants. When squirrel chatter turns to screeching, for example, birds move higher in the trees and ground animals scramble for cover, and critters of all sizes get the message when a predator snarls over a fresh kill. Likewise, animals learn a...
Despite the extent to which we’ve scoured and explored the planet we call home, it may be refreshing to know we’re still learning. And yes, there are still plenty of new things under the sun — or at least new to us. In fact, in the past decade, an estimated 200,000 new species have been discovered. Unique and intriguing as each newly discovered species may be, a handful — 10 to be exact — are selected annually by an international committee of environmentalists, biologist...
It’s hard to be in a bad mood when a pooch bounds up to you and, tongue drooping happily to one side, wags its tail and waits anxiously for reciprocation. Likewise, nothing makes clear the fact that you are not alone quite like a snoring, furry lump slowly edging you from the couch. Pets of all kinds play an important role in the lives of those that love them, not the least of which is the way they somehow help offset negative human emotions and encourage positive ones. U...
John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Carol Burnett, Minnie Pearl, Doris Day, Betty White, Jerry Mathers, Dennis the Menace, Porky Pig, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Tom and Jerry, Warren G. Harding, Eleanor Roosevelt and Shirley Temple — aside from being iconic, all share something else. Each of these folks — the animated included — have served as spokespersons for a campaign to improve the care of animals. Trailing back more than 100 years, Be Kind to Animals Week, designated to begin...
Humans learn very quickly that they are individuals — possessing a name, face, body, unique thoughts, feelings and experiences — and through the sum of these things, begin to ponder their existence, their purpose and to wonder about the meanings of things and about life itself. Understanding the concept of “self” has long been thought of as uniquely human and the complexity of it as a mark of superior intelligence, separating humans from other animals. Psychology and cogniti...
Deceptively omnipresent, the New Mexico sun sometimes does its worst damage when least expected. The need for shade and sunblock is obvious when it’s 100 degrees outside and there’s not a cloud in sight. When, however, there is a breeze, strong winds, or diffused light is only seen sporadically through cloud cover, it’s easy to dismiss the potency of the sun’s reach. But underestimating the sun’s capabilities can be an inconvenient, and, quite painful mistake for folks liv...
Time often creates a bridge of communication that overcomes the differences between species. The longer one spends with their pets, the better they come to understand their moods, expressions and gestures. Most often, our pets learn our ways long before we come to understand theirs — knowing our habits, routines and moods with such finite comprehension, they almost seem psychically in tune with us. In return, however, we do not always understand them as well as we might, or p...
It’s all in the fur — sleek and smooth, fluffy and pillowy, long and wavy or coarse and curly. Not only is it the perfect place to find comfort and soothe away worries, it might just hide some medicinal magic capable of altering the course of a human life. It begins almost as soon as the news is received. Knowing a new life is on the way brings out a protective instinct to make everything perfect, and nothing short of new linens, freshly laundered clothes and a spotless, ger...
Admittedly, waking up to snow last week after several summer-like days was a bit odd. But coupled with rain over the weekend, the moisture is just the kind of springtime boost the area desperately needed to calm the dust and spark growth. To naturally achieve green grass, colorful flowers and fluffy trees it’s going to take a few more rainy days, but make no mistake, in these parts, a little rain does quite a bit. Starving for any kind of hydration, it never fails that s...
A piece of string here and there, clumps of hair fallen from the dog as it sheds its winter coat, threads of dry grass, dabs of mud — quietly they are taken to a place tucked discreetly away from view and carefully woven together in preparation. Only one week into spring and the region is already bursting with activity as wild creatures work fervently to accomplish as much as possible during the warm months ahead. Of course there’s a lot of eating going on by winter-weary wil...
Sandwiches disappear when backs are turned. The contents of upended trash cans mysteriously scatter through the house. Strange dents and punctures appear on remote controls. And soil constantly jumps from the pots of houseplants, which, incidentally, must be fighting with one another because huge chunks are missing from their leaves. Any one of these strange occurrences might justify a call to a poltergeist removal service — unless there is a pet in the house. Regardless of s...
Little nubs of green and delicate blossoms give new life to bare tree limbs, brown begins to take on a greenish hue as life creeps through in the form of new blades of grass and splashes of color are appearing in flowerbeds — all telltale signs that spring is around the corner. With it comes sneezing, itchy eyes, scratchy throats and stuffy noses. The causes can probably be found in the white petals swirling around in the air and yellow powder dusting vehicles. Or it could c...
Wailing and yowling through the house in the middle of the night, zig-zagging in front of you as you try make your way down the stairs, batting and clawing your feet when you tie your shoes — there’s plenty of ways cats can make one a little crazy, but probably not clinically so if new research is correct. A study scrutinizing the suggested connection between cat ownership in childhood and later psychiatric illness might just poke holes in some other scientific studies tha...
Sunny, increasingly warm, no snow to speak of and only intermittent frosts mean it hasn’t felt much like winter lately, but don’t get excited just yet — there are some hair-raising days ahead. In addition to normal seasons, eastern New Mexico has a couple extras mixed in — there’s monsoon, fire, spider, fly and moth to name a few — but of all of them, the local favorite (not really) has to be the windy season. And it starts right about now. Today, winds are expected to...
Whether they are perfect little angels, or destructive forces of nature, owning animals changes the lives of their people on every level. Critters may range from farm to service or companion animals or a combination thereof, but regardless of why they are in a person’s life, things are just different when there are animals about. Beyond the happiness, affection and companionship they bring and regardless of the shape, size or temperament of the animal, at the most basic l...
Perhaps you think you love your pets more than anyone on the planet has ever loved any critter ever — you dote on them, snuggle them, feed only the best foods, buy them the best toys, supply them posh accommodations... if it’s available, your fur-child has it. A loved pet is pretty easy to spot. They have neatly trimmed and styled fur, manicured toes, may be adorned by bows, fancy collars and occasionally cute little outfits. The house is littered with chewed toys, usu...
Smiles, frowns, quizzically raised brows, blasé blankness or wrinkled noses and tightly clamped lips — just a few of the expressions humans know all too well, and, rely heavily on as clues to interpret what someone is feeling. Facial expressions are so prevalent in human interactions, even our critters learn to recognize them — happy-face, mad-face, play-face and so on. Sparkling eyes and a wide grin are sure to get tails waggin’, just as a set of glaring, squinting eyes and c...
With six days to go, anticipation may manifest in the form of hyper-inflated bags of chips poking out of cupboards, stuffed alongside cases of beverages and an array of snack foods — and all in the house have been warned against going near them before Sunday. If the next few days are spent making sure the flat screen is dust free, the remote has fresh batteries and the home theater system is adequately deafening, know that you are not alone. An estimated 188.5 million p...
They start out so very cute — little plump bundles of fur that live to cuddle, stick close to their human’s side and hang on every sound or movement their people make. It’s not long — a matter of days or maybe a couple of weeks — before life changes and that cute little cuddle-buddy becomes a complete stranger. It’s a guarantee that eventually the honeymoon will end, the new puppy that slept soundly in the crook of your arm for days after it arrived will start to show what i...
Sometimes preceded by sound, other times completely unannounced, nothing interrupts a quiet evening in front of the television quite like a wafting contribution from the family dog — or for that matter a good night of sleep after the pooch gets into something digestively delightful that reemerges hours later as a cloud above the bed. Anyone who spends time around critters is well aware that not only do they pass gas with careless abandon, they aren’t concerned about it in the...
It’s no surprise they aren’t given much credit. They bobble around scratching and pecking at the ground in what appears a mindless exploration of … dirt. Two-legged, feathered, beak-faced and egg laying, while everyone understands it’s a bird, the chicken — plump and awkward next to others of its species — is relegated to the fringes of birddom in popular perception. Shaped like warped bowling pins that don’t sail through the air with style and beauty, chickens just don’t fi...
It’s been two days since you promised to make changes in 2017 — to be a better, healthier or smarter version of you — and after 48 hours, it’s a good time to see how that resolve’s holding up, and, perhaps, re-evaluate. That’s because a couple days after a new year begins, resolution makers still hanging on to the idea of turning over a new leaf have reached the halfway point to failure. Yep, the experts tell us 25 percent of resolutions have about a one-week lifespan an...
Go ahead, give in to that little voice inside your head and just say it, "Phew, it's over!" As fun as the holidays are and as nice as it is to spend time with family — whether caused by the prep work, the shopping, the cooking, cleaning, entertaining, spending time with the diverse personalities family is comprised of or the combination thereof — the holidays can be remarkably and exceedingly stressful. Quite frankly, there's a darn good possibility, regardless of the bel...
