RIP Fang

I adopted Fang and his 3 brother's from a family friend a few months ago. When I first brought him home he would hang on the bars on his cage, not chew them just hang on the bars and sleep. What a silly boy. The first time my husband Ken went to pet him before we brought them home, Fang bite him on the finger. Fang ended up biting him several more times until they finally made friends and then Ken would hold him all the time.

Fang's best friend in the cage was Patches. They were inseparable. They were always hanging out, eating and sleeping together. 

Fang had some very strange sleeping positions...this one he would do when he was on top of the hammock...he also slept with his eyes open all the time. It made for really cute pictures though. 

For a couple of weeks while they were in this cage, Fang would hang on the bars and sleep. I don't know why he did it, but we warned everyone who visited us not to try and pet him through the bars of the cage because he would bite them. He bite several people...including Ken. I was able to put my fingers through the bars of the cage and pet him right away and never got bit, and after a while he did chill out with the biting. 

He even photo bombed me one time. I was trying to take a picture of Patches in the back while he was inside the cube and right as I took the picture...his little face appeared. Photo bomb!

This is where you would usually find Fang each day for several hours. In my arms or in Ken's arms, just being held. This was taken just yesterday as he cuddled in my arms. He was alert and happy, chattering often. 

This was taken right around Christmas Time. Always being held by someone because that's where he always wanted to be. He would just lay there for hours, sleeping, cleaning or eating bits of whatever I was eating. What a life. 

My pretty boy trying to climb into my hand to be held for a while. As soon as I opened the cage doors he would climb on me or just jump on me and want to stay there. He was such a sweet little rat. 

This morning though, as I was holding him his breathing just started getting slower and slower. I knew from experience that something was happening with him and it took less than 5 minutes for him to take his last breath and pass away in my arms. Fang was about 2 1/2 years old and that's an old man in rat years. 

RIP my little cuddle boy. 

What Is Foie Gras?

My daughter and Husband feeding the ducks and geese at Lorenzi Park.

Foie Gras is made from overly fattened geese or duck liver. 

If you want to see for yourself how these birds are fed just look it up on youtube, there are many videos of ducks and geese being force fed fatty grains and fat in order to get as much weight put on them as possible in the shortest amount of time.

*Warning: What I am about to describe is graphic. If you don't want to know how these animals are treated, don't read any further*

A while back I was watching an episode of Diners, Drive Ins and Dives with Guy Fieri and saw them eating Foie Gras and I wasn't exactly sure what it was so I went searching and what I found turned my stomach. I refuse to watch that show anymore because of this. Any show that condones a food so grotesque and abusive to animals is not something I want to keep watching. 

How is Foie Gras made? Foie Gras is a dish made from the liver of goose and ducks, these birds that raised  for Foie gras are stuck in dimly lit wire cages where they can barely move and force fed several times a day a mixture of grain and fat. 

A tube is forced down their throats and the food is pushed down the tubes right into their stomachs. A process which oftentimes injures their necks. Being force fed so much food also puts massive strain on their internal organs because these birds gets grotesquely obese in a very short amount of time so that their livers can increase in size sometimes ten times the size of a normal goose or duck liver. 

I wrote an article on this subject and hope you will read it, share it and by passing this information along we can stop Foie Gras from being sold anywhere.

Why is Foie Gras So Controversial?