Dogs and cats help babies' health, study finds

Dogs and cats help babies' health, study finds

Fido the dog and Ginger the cat need not worry about being replaced by a new baby — in fact, they could be helping parents raise healthier children.

A new study finds that children who lived with dogs or cats during their first year of life got sick less frequently than kids from pet-free zones. The study, published in Monday's edition of the journal Pediatrics, provides fresh evidence for the counterintuitive notion that an overly clean environment may not be ideal for babies.

Ring in the New Year With a 2013 Animal Calendar

Ring in the New Year With a 2013 Animal Calendar

Get organized in 2013 with the help of an animal calendar that will make each day a little brighter. From cats behaving badly to happy swines, these animal calendars are perfect for starting the new year right. And you'll love writing special dates and messages on these cool animal calendars that fit every taste. Click through the collection to find the perfect calendar for the start of the new year.

Micro-chipping for pets to ring in 2013

Micro-chipping for pets to ring in 2013

New Year's Eve fireworks can cause pets to run.

Updated: Sunday, 30 Dec 2012, 9:35 PM CST
Published : Sunday, 30 Dec 2012, 7:48 PM CST

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Ringing in 2013 with a big bang could cause some pets to runaway.

That one of the reasons the Austin Animal Center is offering free micro-chipping before the new year.

Kevin Bennett's dog Meadchen has noise anxiety and that's why he got her micro-chipped before fireworks light up the sky on NYE.

"Hopefully I'll have her returned to me, if I got separated from her or lost," said Bennett.

The Animal Center told KXAN this time of year they're flooded with run away cast and dogs, scared off by loud noises.

According to Philip Goen, a senior animal protection officer, "We push for people to identify their pets, so they can get home. Our officers in the field all carry microchip scanners so they can check animals for tags, and their preference would be to return the animals to home, without ever getting to the shelter. And if they do come to the shelter- we want to make sure they get home, with the correct identifying information."

Chinese Horoscope Color Zodiac Animal Signs

Chinese Horoscope Color Zodiac Animal Signs

Chinese Horoscope Color Zodiac Animal Signs
According to Chinese Lunar calendar, the Chinese New Year Day is the new moon day of the first lunar month. The first lunar month is the second lunar month after the lunar month (11th lunar month) contains Winter Solstice, which is around December 23 in Gregorian calendar (western calendar). As a result, Chinese New Year Day might fall in the second half of January or the first half of February.

Chinese calendar combines lunar, solar and color-animal (Stem-Branch) counting systems. The lunar counting system mainly is to count the lunar month. The solar counting system is to count the year and solar month for agriculture activities. The color animal is to count the every single solar day. At the beginning color animal counts only for the day. Later, Five Element scholars applied color animals on Year and Month cycles.

There are 12 animals, which are Rat, Cow, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Chicken, Dog, Pig, in the counting system. The Chinese calendar needs to assign a unique animal name for each day inside the lunar month. sometimes, Chinese Lunar Calendar needs to add an extra lunar month (Leap Lunar Month) in the cycle to match the speed of the solar cycle. For example, Year 2006, Chinese calendar has two 7th lunar months. A lunar month contains 29 or 30 days. Therefore, Chinese calendar needs 60 different animal names to make every single day unique for the case of leap lunar month.

To make the 60 unique color animal names, Chinese add the name of Five Elements, which are Metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth, on the top of animal names. Five Elements are connected to colors, which are White, Black, Green, Red and Brown. That's why each Chinese year has a color animal name. The first sign of 60 color animals is the Green Wood Rat, which can be found in 1924 and 1984.

Use Photobucket everywhere

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Discover a new flavor of Jelly Bean

Discover a new flavor of Jelly Bean

Android 4.2 introduces a completely new camera experience, a new form of typing that helps you power through your messages, and much more
Android 4.2 takes the speed and simplicity of Jelly Bean to a different level – a completely new camera experience that’s beyond smart, a new form of typing that helps you power through your messages, and much more.