Pet quokkas are making a debut in the pet news today.  For many years now wildlife experts have been arguing that to help preserve the Australian wildlife people should be allowed to keep the little squirrels, possums, bandicoots and quokkas as pets.  The Herald Sun reports today that this dream is becoming a reality with many people replacing the traditional cat or dog pet with a native Australian animal. 

Some however disagree and think that keeping nocturnal animals as pets would be wrong because people mainly want to interact with their pets after work or weekends, not late at night! 

But then, for those that work very long hours the nocturnal pet may be just the answer so they don't have to worry about their dog, rabbit, cat or parrot being lonely during the 12 hours they are left alone.  Their possum would just sleep the day through and be fresh and ready to play when their owners return from their busy schedules!

FAST food, roast chicken and cream cheese are turning our beloved pets into over-fed, fatso furballs.  No exercise and modern life has had a bad effect on our pets' figures!  Christmas is a particularly bad time for overtreating pets! and people too!

Treating cats and dogs as family members by heaping human helpings on them at meal times is taking a heavy toll, vets warn.

In the news again is the issue of ugly puppy farms.  See the YouTube video of Dr Chris Brown talking with the RSPCA and others and listen to their views.

View the 7pm Project segment

Our wonderful Australian kangaroo!  SKIPPY has knocked out Matilda the Boxing Kangaroo, as well as Phar Lap and Fatso the Wombat to be voted Australia's most iconic animal.

A total of 836 people responded to an online VetShopAustralia survey, with Skippy the Bush Kangaroo attracting the most votes - 29 per cent of votes.

Legendary racehorse Phar Lap was second with 21 per cent of votes.

Surprisingly, the dog that said "bugger" in a Toyota commercial came third with 15 per cent, ahead of Simpson's Donkey (12 per cent), Matilda the Boxing Kangaroo (9 per cent) and the Dog on the Tucker Box (4 per cent).

Eight per cent voted for Mr Percival from the children's book and film Storm Boy, while Fatso the Wombat from the long-running drama series A Country Practice lagged the field, pulling just two per cent of votes.

"Skippy is perhaps Australia's greatest television export and an icon not only to Australians but people worldwide," VetShopAustralia chief vet Dr Mark Perissinotto said in a statement on Monday.

"No wonder people love her - the remarkable eastern grey kangaroo can understand and communicate with humans, rescue hapless bushwalkers, foil villains, open doors, play the drums and even make phone calls, among a host of other amazing feats."

Dr Perissinotto said while the survey was a bit of fun, it showed what an incredible influence animals, real or otherwise, have had and continue to have on Australia.

"Australians have always had a soft spot for animals," he said.

"Those like Simpson's Donkey and Phar Lap are etched into our history and national psyche, we grew up with others like Skippy and Fatso while some, like the cursing Toyota dog, simply make us laugh."

 

The cane toad has become quite infamous and controversial apart from being a downright pest to pets and people.

Australia's most poisonous pest toad, the cane toad may have finally met its match when it recently came up against a can of cat food.

After years of trying to fight these pests scientists now say that just a dollap of cat food could stop it.

It works by attracting Australia's carnivorous meat ants which currently swarm and eat approximately 70% of baby cane toads.

"It's not exactly rocket science," University of Sydney professor Rick Shine told national broadcaster ABC.

"We went out and put out a little bit of cat food right beside the area where the baby toads were coming out of the ponds.

"The ants rapidly discovered the cat food and thought it tasted great.

"The worker ants then leave trails back to the nest encouraging other ants to come out there and forage in that area, and within a very short period of time we got lots of ants in the same area as the toads are," he said.

Australia has been berrated with millions and millions of can toads ever since they were introduced from Hawaii in 1935 to combat scarab beetles in the cane fields in Australia.

The toads - which are prolific maters, eat anything, are incredibly tough and secrete poison that kills pets and wildlife and injures humans - prompted several initially unsuccessful campaigns to wipe them out.

"Even the ones that don't die immediately, die within a day or so of being attacked," Professor Shine said, adding that native frogs were able to dodge the hungry ants.

"It's a simple, low-risk way of reducing the number of baby toads coming out of those ponds."