An animal control officer in Anderson, South Carolina, responded to a call about a barking dog. When Michelle Smith went to investigate, she found a tiny Shih Tzu mix barking in a ravine. Smith climbed down the embankment, which she says the dog could have easily climbed out of herself, and found out why the dog was there. She was nursing a tiny kitten!

"I didn’t know what to think," she said. "I was shocked and surprised and then of course, awww."

The dog and kitten received the same reaction when Smith took them to the animal shelter. Volunteers marveled at the way the dog, which is at least 5 years old, looks out for the 5-week-old kitten.

Jessica Cwynar, director of the shelter, says such behavior is natural for mammals.

"It would be like one of us seeing a neglected or abandoned child and taking it under our wing," she said.

Neither the dog nor the kitten has a known name, so shelter volunteers call them "Girl."

Cwynar said the 5-year-old dog likely started producing milk because of a surge of hormones when she found the kitten. The dog is obviously a pet, and the shelter is hoping the owner will come forward and take the kitten, too. Link -via Arbroath, where you can see a video.  

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Zero to 60 in three seconds! The "features" of a cheetah are presented in this video in the manner of new model of sports car. Everything that makes a cheetah different from other cats is about the acceleration. One fact that floored me: one stride of a cheetah can be 25 feet long. Imagine tracking a cat like that -you'd never know which way to look for the next paw print! -via Viral Viral Videos  

Today's featured pet is Steve, sent in by Neatoramanaut Kate Nelson.

This is my cat Steve... he is not dead that is just how he sleeps.

He is named for 2 people 1-Scuba Steve (he loves water) and 2- Steve McQueen (because he is cool).

Now, I agree that Steve McQueen is cool, but I had to look up Scuba Steve. Thanks, Kate!

Send a picture of your cat, dog, or other pet in so they, too, can be a featured pet on Lifestyles of the Cute and Cuddly!

The following is an article from Uncle John's Unstoppable Bathroom Reader.

(Image credit: Flickr user Ed Schipul)

What would Porter the Wonder Dog have eaten 200 years ago, before there was Alpo or Dog Chow? Here's the history of the multi-billion-dollar dog food industry.

CHOW DOWN

* More than 2,000 years ago, Roman poet and philosopher Marcus Terentius Varro wrote the first farming manual. In it he advised giving farm dogs barley bread soaked in milk, and bones from dead sheep.

* During the Middle Ages, it was common for European royalty to have kennels for their hounds. Kennel cooks would make huge stews, mostly grains and vegetables with some meat or meat byproducts -the hearts, livers, and lungs of various livestock.

* Dogs in common households had meager diets. They were fed only what their owners could spare. A normal domesticated dog's diet consisted of crusts of bread, bare bones, potatoes, cabbage, or whatever else they could scrounge on their own.

* In the 18th century, farm dogs, which had to be fairly healthy to do their jobs, were regularly fed mixes of grains and lard. In cities, you could make a living by searching the streets for dead horses, cutting them up, and selling the meat to wealthy dog owners.

* There were exceptions: The very wealthy, throughout history, have fed their pet dogs fare that was much better than what most humans ate. In the 1800s Empress Tzu Hsi of China was known to feed her Pekingese shark fins, quail breasts, and antelope milk. European nobility fed their dogs roast duck, cakes, candies, and even liquor.

LUXURY FOOD

The in the mid-1800s, the Industrial Revolution created a growing middle class with more luxury and more leisure time, pets began to be regarded as "luxury items" by everyday folk. Result: pet food became more closely scrutinized.

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Is it ballet or morning calisthenics? This juvenile bearded dragon is said to be "waving," which some say is a dragon sign of deference to a superior, but I think this critter's style puts him into the category of "performer." -via Tastefully Offensive

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When his favorite song, "Make You Feel My Love" comes on, Rev wakes up and has to sing along with Adele! This dog may not pronounce all the words correctly, but he sure has an emotive voice. -via Viral Viral Videos

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Woe unto the man who comes between Korra and her ice cream cone! That man is Mike Reeves, who finally just gave up. Good move. Korra like potato chips, too. I see a weight problem in the future. -via Laughing Squid

We already know that cats will steal anything that's not tied down. But what about the rest of the animal kingdom? The tendency to steal food is a beneficial adaptation for a species, and taking what another critter has is not really rare. For example: Flowers produce nectar to attract bees for pollination purposes, but bumblebees take nectar from flowers without pollinating the plants in exchange.

Bees who’ve evolved with short tongues and thus can’t reach for the sweet nectar have learned to carve holes into the side of a flower in order to reach their reward. This phenomenon, first observed by Charles Darwin, gets a bee nectar without the bee pollinating the plant. More cannily, there’s evidence suggesting that bees aren’t born behaving this way—they learn how to thieve from other bees, a sad sign that bee society is being overrun by hoodlums.

Read about seven thieving species at mental_floss. Link

(Image credit: Flickr user Joe Penniston)

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The pygmy marmoset (Cebuella pygmaea) is the smallest monkey in the world. They are about five to six inches tall, not including the tail. This one is eating a piece of macaroni, which looks huge in its hands! -via Daily Picks and Flicks

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The Portland Police Department shares a dash cam video of Traffic Officer Mark James pursuing a speeder. But that's not all that happens. -Thanks, MB!

Bridget Evans, founder of the Illini Service Dog Program, received her Masters degree from the College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on Saturday. She was accompanied at the graduation ceremony by her service dog Hero. Evans said,

Hero knows over forty commands to assist me! He loves to retrieve objects for my like envelopes, pens, my crutches, etc. He also turns off the lights, opens doors, and he pulls me in my wheelchair up ramps! I couldn't have gone to college without him!

Hero grabbed a lot of attention and photographs at the graduation. These were posted by two different redditors, in threads that tell more about Bridget and Hero. In both, it was mentioned that while Bridget got a Masters, Hero was awarded a "dog-torate."

Link and Link

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Animals play the cups, too! The otters have it down, while the bunnies and cats just try to look their best while trying. -via Tastefully Offensive

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Isabella Rossellini, who makes strange videos about what animals do, has a new series called Mammas. It is the third part of her Green Porno series. In the introductory video, a hamster mamma explains why they sometimes eat their babies. At the Sundance Channel, you can see other videos on spider, cuckoo, dunnock, and wasp mothers. Link  -via Laughing Squid

Today's featured pet is Blaze, shown here catching a little shuteye on Mt. Hawkins in the San Gabriel mountains. The Australian shepherd was hiking with Neatoramanaut Miki Davis, who sent this great picture in. Thanks, Miki!

Your pet could be the featured pet on Lifestyles of the Cute and Cuddly, too! Sent your pics to tips@neatorama.com and check out the site every day!

This bird is Nyctibius griseus, or the common Potoo. The nocturnal bird of Central and South America is a master of camouflage, but you'd never know it by looking at those crazy eyes. See more pictures of this funny-looking bird at imgur. Link -via reddit

(Image credit: Carlos Gussoni)

Today's featured pets are Lucy and Muffin, sent in by Neatoramanaut Jane Lang. They are mountain climbers in their own imaginations. -Thanks, Jane!

The rest of you, send your pet's picture to tips@neatorama.com to be the featured pet at Lifestyles of the Cute and Cuddly.

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Here be dragons, but the kitten doesn't know what they are about. He learned a little lesson, though: while you are focusing on the moving animal, be aware that there may also be one that's not moving …yet. -via Arbroath

Ypres, Belgium, stages the Festival of Cats on the second Sunday of May every three years. The festival harkens back to a time in which cats were tortured and destroyed because they were believed to be witches or incarnations of the devil. However, the modern festival is instead a celebration of cats, and no live cats are involved.

The centerpiece of the festival is the Cat Parade. The first parade was held in 1938 with music, a jester, and a bunch of altar boys carrying a bunch of plastic cats. They marched from the city hall to the belfry. Amid a concert of trumpet music and the carillon of bells, the jester climbed to the top of the belfry tower to throw the toy cats into the crowd below. This was based on how live cats were once thrown from the bell tower during the Middle Ages. These days it is soft plush cats that are tossed to the crowd below, perhaps mocking the awful brutality that is now thankfully left to the past. A mock witch burning also remains as a part of the festivities.

Kattenstoet would have been this weekend, but the festival was held last year and the next one will be in 2015. See plenty of pictures and a video of the parade at PetsLady. Link -via the Presurfer

(Image credit: Flickr user Cedric Dubois)

Like it said on the tin, Guinea Pig Fashion is a website where you can buy haute couture for your cavy. We can't wait till they make a teeny runway for these cute rodents to strut their stuff! Link - via The Cut

Well, this is silly, but you might want to give it a try for laughs. Petswitch allows you to easily put your features on your pet's face. Or if you don't have a pet, there's a gallery of pet pictures you can select from. It helps to make sure the two pictures combined are facing the same direction, and pay attention to the tilt. Shown here are my eyes and mouth on my cat Marshmallow. Link -via b3ta  

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As much as Disco talks, it's a good thing he knows a lot of different phrases. He jumps from one pop culture reference to another, sometimes garbling them a little, just enough to make you laugh! -via Tastefully Offensive

Image: Annette Shaff/Shutterstock

The old way of multiplying a dog's age in human years by 7 is just not cutting it anymore. To get at your dog's true age, follow this formula:

For first two years:

9 years per human year for the first two years for small dogs
10.5 years per human year for the first two years for medium sized dogs
12.5 years per human year for the first two years for large dogs

For years 3+:

Small: Dachshund (Miniature) 4.32, Border Terrier 4.47, Lhasa Apso 4.49, Shih Tzu 4.78, Whippet Medium 5.30, Chihuahua 4.87, West Highland White Terrier 4.96, Beagle 5.20, Miniature Schnauzer 5.46, Spaniel (Cocker) 5.55, Cavalier King Charles 5.77, Pug 5.95, French Bulldog 7.65

Medium: Spaniel 5.46, Retriever (Labrador) 5.74, Golden Retriever 5.74, Staffordshire Bull Terrier 5.33, Bulldog 13.42

Large: German Shepherd 7.84, Boxer 8.90

Read more about the reasoning behind the new formula over at this post by Ben Carter of the BBC News: Link

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Ze Frank narrates the entries of a cat's diary. This is a bit like Henri, the Existential Cat, with an added dollop of Ze's craziness. Watch for the sand cat at 2:27. -via Viral Viral Videos

Why don't all poison dart frogs look the same?

(Image credit: Flickr user William Wan)

Nothing says "STAY AWAY!" to a predator like a tasty-looking creature that's a little too flashy. Bright colors and crazy patterns are nature's skull and crossbones, a warning to the carnivorous to look elsewhere for meals. Toxic animals usually have uniform markings: Each member of a species looks the same. Monarch butterflies bear the same patterns; puffer fish all puff up in the same way. But there's one animal that ignores this advice completely: the poison dart frog. These deadly amphibians have developed endless combinations of shades and markings, making it a challenge for hungry birds and snakes to keep track of their patterns. If the idea of being visibly toxic is to be as obvious as possible, why would a single species of frog maintain such an extensive wardrobe? That's the question that had Mathieu Chouteau sweating in the Peruvian Amazon as fastened 1,800 clay frogs to rainforest leaves.

(Image credit: Flickr user MoleSon²)

Back in 2009, Chouteau, a biologist from the University of Montreal, became obsessed with this evolutionary puzzle. "For the longest time, I've been fascinated by the phenomenon of local adaptation," he says. But because the varieties of poison dart frog patterns are so many and, more importantly, occur so geographically close to one another, they struck Chouteau as particularly odd. He wondered whether different types of local predators were somehow responsible for the variations.

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What's fat cat Maru doing these days? Here he is in the bathtub, but there's no water. He's discovered that the tub plug goes round and round, but it doesn't come out. -via HuffPo Green

A vehicle at an impound lot in Kansas City had a surprise inside, but no one knew for almost a month. When an inspector went around to mark cars for auction on Monday, the puppy jumped up on the dashboard! Since the car was locked, lot employees called the police, who freed the puppy.  

What is known is that the 1990 Chevy Suburban was towed because it was abandoned April 8 on an eastbound ramp to I-70 from Van Brunt Boulevard and was blocking traffic, Rotert said. Police got the call at 10:08 p.m. and it was towed to the city tow lot at 10:45 p.m. Neither police nor the tow truck driver saw a dog, nor did tow lot employees.

The doors on the car were locked. Typically, when a car arrives at the tow lot with locked doors, employees take pictures of the outside of the vehicle and keep the doors locked. Rotert said they do not try to break into locked cars.

The dog was taken to a veterinarian, who estimated the emaciated pup was 12 weeks old, although the female, now named Kia, was the size of an 8-week-old. She had apparently survived on fast food scraps and cigars, but no one knows if she had anything to drink. The owner of the car came by the lot on May 1st, but did not have a car key and never mentioned a puppy. Kia is expected to recover and will be sent to a foster home before adoption. Link  -via Arbroath

(Image credit: The KC Pet Project)

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He's looking… he's thinking… he's figured it out! If cats had their way, all doors would be opened with latches instead of knobs. No, scratch that. If cats had their way, all doors would just stay open all the time. (via Tastefully Offensive)

The featured pets today are Buster and Stella! Here is a photo submitted by Neatoramanaut Lindsey Pfaff.

Enjoying everyday we can with a walk along Lake Michigan. Buster (the blonde) is a cancer survivor since treatment in October. 11 years old and gives his 3 year old sister a run for the money!

Thanks, Lindsey! If you want to show off your pet, send us a picture at tips@neatorama.com and we'll post it on Lifestyles of the Cute and Cuddly!

Your pup may tolerate the cherry vanilla ice cream that you serve, but why not offer him something more appropriate? Arrfscarf makes ice cream with flavors that dogs prefer: peanut butter bacon, chicken cheddar, beef brisket, pulled pork and gouda burger. No cat poop flavor, though, which strikes me as a major oversight.

Link -via Technabob

(Photo: Arrfscarf)

Also: rabbit poop is the greatest food ever invented. Don't let your Friendbeast keep it from you. Matthew Inman made two panels illustrating how his dog views him and he views his dog. To see the latter, click on the link.

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