gracious/health

If your dog begs for chocolate, don't give in! Chocolate contains theobromine, a naturally occurring stimulant found in cocoa beans that can cause vomiting, heart problems, seizures, and even death for dogs.

How much chocolate is too much? It depends on the type of chocolate and the weight of the dog.

Find out how much of each kind of chocolate can harm your pet by consulting the National Geographic Magazine Chocolate Chart.

Scroll on the page to change the weight of the dog and the type of chocolate.

The halls of Rady Children's Hospital were filled with smiles and giggles Friday, as two of SeaWorld's resident penguins led the patients on a march down the hallways.

The children, patients of the Hematology/Oncology unit, are too fragile to attend the water park's upcoming "Shamu and You Family Walk," so SeaWorld brought the animals to them.

The makers of Greenies, one of the nation's best-selling dog treats, have settled a class-action lawsuit claiming the teeth-cleaning product injured or killed close to a dozen dogs.

U.S. District Judge Gary Fenner on Monday agreed with a joint request to dismiss the case.

Alan Sash, who represented 10 dog owners against Kansas City-based manufacturer S&M NuTec, said the case was settled but the terms were confidential.

In their lawsuit, Sash's clients claimed S&M NuTec, the company that invented the treats, knew of the dangers Greenies posed for dogs but refused to adequately warn consumers or pull the treats from the shelves.

The company repeatedly said Greenies were safe when used as directed, which included buying dogs the correct size of treat and making sure the animal adequately chewed it and didn't gulp it down.

Still, the company changed the packaging of Greenies to make its warnings more visible and came out with a new formula late last year that it said was more digestible and designed to break down into smaller pieces during chewing.

The following is a list of common household human medications that can be used on pets. These Medications can be especially useful if you can't reach a veterinarian.

Mental disorders associated with aging, including Alzheimer's, are far more common in domesticated cats than previously realized, with more than half of all cats over age 15 showing signs of senility, according to a forthcoming Journal of Small Animal Practice paper.

The behaviors associated with senility in cats range from acting disoriented to changes in their social relationships, to shifting sleep habits. They may also include inappropriate vocalizing, forgetting commands, breaking housetraining, pacing, wandering, sluggishness, unusual interest or disinterest in food, and decreased grooming and confusion, such as "forgetting that they have just been fed."

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Chicago officials say that an itch mite may be responsible for an outbreak of itchy, raised red bumps. The symptoms sent approximately 100 people to Chicago-area emergency rooms in the last week, according to the state Illinois Health Department.

The mites are tiny, measuring only 0.2 millimeters. In August 2004, an estimated 54% of the population of Crawford County, Kansas was thought to have suffered from its bites. The mites have been found from Illinois to Texas.

You can't see them with the naked eye. And you won't feel them biting. But, 10 to 16 hours later, your back, neck, shoulders and arms may be filled with itchy red welts.

The popular delicacy foie gras (which is French for "fat liver") is produced in a way that animal rights activists insist is barbaric. Ducks and geese are force-fed corn mash twice a day, through a tube that is inserted into the oesophagus. The birds are slaughtered 2-3 weeks later, and their engorged livers are then removed, to be sold whole or for use in making pâté, mousse or parfait.

But it seems that the slaughtered birds may be the ones who have the last laugh - researchers from the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine, in collaboration with a group from Uppsala University in Sweden, have found a potential link between foie gras consumption and the development of a number of amyloidogenic diseases.

The amyloidogenic diseases include Alzheimer's Disease, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), tuberculosis, diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. They are termed "amyloidogenic" because they all involve a process called amyloidosis, whereby genetic mutations lead to the synthesis of abnormally folded and insoluble proteins which accumulate within or around cells and interfere with their function. In all the amyloidogenic diseases, the mutated proteins are believed to accumulate by a process called nucleation (or "seeding").

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Nearly 2 years after he was taken to the Evergreen Animal Protective League to be euthanized, Kandu the dog has a new home with a family near Steamboat Springs. The Rogers have given the Jack Russell Terrier special devices to help him get around, ski and serve as an inspiration to people.