The Baltimore County Animal Shelter is waiving its customary $65 adoption fee this weekend in honor of Presidents' Day.  Stop by the shelter at 13800 Manor Rd., Baldwin, MD 21013 between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., Feb. 16 to meet your future four-legged friend.  Check out all of the adoptable cats and dogs here. "Any pet adopted or placed on hold for adoption on Saturday, February 16, will be adopted free of charge, with the exception of the cost of a cat or dog license at the time of the adoption," according to a release. "Baltimore County law requires pets to be licensed." Speaking of American …

Tigger, a young tabby cat, has been missing from his Lutherville home for three days, according to this owner.  Have you seen him?  Tigger's owners live in the Towson and Morris avenues area.  If you've seen Tigger, please email me at NickD@patch.com, and I'll forward your message to the owner.  ______ The next time you're hanging "missing cat" posters around the neighborhood, remember, you can post a notice here in the "Pics & Clips" section. Just let me know about it and I'll feature it on the homepage. 

For more information about the sport, visit ChesapeakeDockDogs.com. You can read more about the World of Pets Expo taking place in The Cow Palace of the Maryland State Fairgrounds this weekend in this article, by Baltimore Sun reporter Jill Rosen. This is the 11th anniversary of the annual celebration of all things fury, four-legged, and feathery. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children, children under 5 get in for free. Pets are welcome at the event.

Any information regarding Bella's whereabouts can be sent to me, Nick DiMarco at nickd@patch.com or by phone at 443-621-2174.  I'll relay the information to the owners, who can also be contacted at the number listed on her tag.  ____ If your pet has been missing, let Patch help you locate him or her. Send us a photo of your missing pet and we'll post it to the Lutherville-Timonium Patch site. You can also search the Patch.com network for a local site in your area.  Here's what the county has to say about lost pets. More information regarding lost animals can be found on the Maryland SPCA …

Rae Borsetti was the kind of kid who always crossed the street to pet a dog. At 24, she’s not much different—but this time many of the dogs come to her. Borsetti, a Hampden resident who grew up in Owings Mills, has started her own dog-walking and pet-sitting business called Sunshine Dogwalking, because she missed the animals when she started a teaching career after college. Borsetti started walking dogs while she was still a student at American University. “I grew up with dogs—a golden and a bichon frise,” Borsetti said. “So in college, I got the idea to be a dog-walker, and I started …

The bad news is: Chilly Dog is still missing. The good news is: Hundreds upon hundreds of people have been helping spread the word about the disappearance of the 6-year-old pit bull who suffered brain damage after being abandoned in the snow—frozen, as a puppy, and left for dead. Chilly was rescued by Kathy Homan-Soul and Tom Soul of White Hall, MD. For the past five years, they have been working with his special needs and behavioral differences. But he disappeared on the Northern Central Railroad Trail on Weisburg and White Hall roads last Wednesday. Kathy, desperately worried, knowing how …

UPDATE: Chilly Dog has been found!    ORIGINAL—Chilly Dog, a pit bull, was found frozen in a snow bank with no vital signs five years ago when he was a puppy. A veterinarian was able to revive him, but he suffered brain damage. Chilly Dog is a special-needs canine, and he has been missing since Wednesday.  Have you seen this dog?  Owners Kathy and Tom Soul of White Hall, MD are frantic. The Souls have been rescuing and rehabilitating pit bulls for a long time, and they didn’t turn away from fostering Chilly Dog (Chilly for short). Chilly’s strange behaviors resulting from brain damage didn’t …

Meet Phoebe and Buffy. Phoebe is a fluffy Pomeranian, and Buffy is an even smaller Shitzu mix. They are between 7 and 8 years old. In dog years, that means they are middle-aged, and long friendships are hard to break. Defenders of Animal Rights, the shelter at 14412 Old York Rd., would like to honor the bond these girls have by attempting to adopt them out together. Instead of years of sharing gossip at Starbucks like some women do, picture Phoebe and Buffy’s years of sharing kibble and a water bowl. No one knows their history—they were dropped off together in someone’s backyard in June. …

Phoenix has a lot of mayoral duties during the day, and they involve visiting his neighbors, making nice with a lot of dogs, sampling a collection of food from other animals’ dishes, and keeping a mental map of his sprawling neighborhood that would impress a human’s GPS. Phoenix is a cat, and he is known as the Mayor of Longbrook. Longbrook Road, in Lutherville, winds through the neighborhood where Charmuth, Dulaney Valley, Tenbury and Greenridge Roads form the community called the Dulaney Valley Improvement Association. Phoenix, 4, adopted from the SPCA when he was a kitten, knows every inch…

Jill and Hob have made quite a few babies, but ferrets are like that. Ferrets can have three to seven kits, or more, in their litters, and can have several litters in a year. Jill and Hob are typical ferrets. In fact, a “jill” is a female ferret, and a “hob” is a male ferret.  A “sprite” is a female ferret that's been spayed, and a “gib” is a neutered male. There is one more variety: a “hoblet” is a male ferret that’s had a vasectomy, but can still safely mate. A hoblet can keep an unspayed female healthy, since female ferrets can become ill and even die if they do not mate when they are in …

Here’s a recipe for a basic dog treat that anyone can make at home. 2 cups whole wheat flour 1 cup cornmeal 1 tbsp salt 1/3 cup vegetable oil 1 egg 1 cup water But what if your dog has a wheat or corn allergy? Have you ever met, or owned, an itchy dog whose skin is scratchy and sensitive and scabby? That’s likely a food allergy, my human friend, and sometimes wheat, corn or soy is to blame. Key Wagner, a Baltimore resident who has been baking her own dog treats commercially for 14 years, agrees. “I do have a wheat-free (recipe) and a corn-free now. That seems to be the trend,” said Wagner, …

When a family pet dies, it's never easy to say goodbye. Grieving parents and children sometimes honor their memory by holding backyard funerals.  When a small pet dies, we make the Popsicle stick markers with our grieving child, careful to glue a perfect cross. We decorate the wood with the pet's name in Magic Marker, sure to wash off in the first rain. We say a prayer, dry some tears, and then usually mow right over the plot in the spring, the grief forgotten when the grass grows back. “We’ve buried three guinea pigs in our backyard,” said April Herbert, a Lutherville mom of sixth-grade …

Webster’s favorite place, outside of his cage, is in 9-year-old Sam BonGiorno’s pocket. Webster is a sugar glider, also known as a sugar bear. He’s cute like a cartoon animal, with his big eyes, his inquisitive sniffing nose, and his tiny chipmunk-sized body. At first glance, he seems like a very social, cuddly relative of a hamster, but in fact, Webster is not a rodent at all. He’s a marsupial. “People actually call them pocket pets,” said Sam’s mom, Jennifer Drucker. Sugar gliders bond with their owners as part of a family unit, and will nestle safely inside a pocket. In the wild, they live…

Don’t count your pythons before they hatch. That’s the wisdom Howard Redding, a soon-to-be python breeder from Waldorf, MD, shared at this weekend’s Repticon Reptile and Exotic Animal Show at the Timonium Fairgrounds. Redding wasn’t shopping for more pythons. He’s already got 15, with 19 eggs “cooking in the incubator.” He attended Repticon with his girlfriend, Kim Donadio, to say hello to the vendors he’s bought from before, and to introduce Donadio to the world of reptiles. Donadio wasn’t always a fan of the slithery and the cold-blooded, but she’s working on it. “I’m getting there,” …

Dr. Jean Townsend is a Lutherville veterinarian who makes old-fashioned house calls to tend to her furry patients. But don’t picture her kneeling on a wool carpet next to a sick cat that’s curled on a pillow, at the foot of its master’s four-poster mahogany bed. That’s a romanticized image from yesteryear. Picture her, instead, in the bathroom. That’s the best place to treat feline escape artists, when she’s tending to them in their own homes. There are only so many places to hide in the bathroom. And cats, when they see Townsend coming, usually try to hide in a hurry. “Dogs are thoroughly …

Duke is a leggy, lanky dog. He’s long and lean, and looks like he’d match the long-legged swagger of a cowboy in chaps. That works, since the staff at Defenders of Animal Rights, where Duke is sheltered, think he’s part cattle dog. “They were bred to herd the cattle, way back in the day,” said Ashley Citrano, an animal care tech at Defenders, the Phoenix, MD shelter at 14412 Old York Rd. Duke looks like he’d be at home on the range. Duke started his life as a member of a homeless litter of puppies, rescued from an out-of-state high-kill shelter, and brought to Defenders. The staff named the …

Microchipping is a common practice offered by many veterinarians, shelters, kennels, breeders and rescue organizations. But it's scarily high-tech to some of us, who still think that using a pooper-scooper with a long handle is the height of pet-care technology. But microchipping is fast, painless, and can easily help recover a lost pet. What’s microchipping? It’s the injection of a tiny implant, about the size of a grain of rice, under a pet's skin, usually around the back of its neck and between its shoulder blades. The microchip uses radio frequency to identify the animal’s information …

Walking your dog can be more than just a fun afternoon activity. It could save lives.  Sunday is the Maryland SPCA’s 16th annual March For the Animals, at Baltimore's Druid Hill Park. Starting at 9 a.m. tomorrow, you can register for this fundraiser that benefits Baltimore’s homeless animals. Enjoy a full day (from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.) of animal-themed demonstrations, activities, contests and entertainment, while you walk the 1.5 mile loop around Druid Hill Park. Bring your dogs, of course — the SPCA’s fundraising events are friendly to the furriest members of your family. You can even bring …

Ellie Elgin likes to draw animals because they don’t pose. Dogs don’t mug for the camera; they cannot be self-conscious. Cats don’t cock their heads because they think they’re cute; they are not theatrical. Horses don’t suck in their bellies and fret about double chins. These animals are not contrived or dramatic. No, animals will only hold a pose, by their own choice, if it’s natural to them. An animal’s poise is unpracticed. And that’s what Elgin likes to draw. Elgin, a Bel Air resident and a grandmother of five, who often comes to Lutherville-Timonium to draw her clients’ animals, is a pet…

Betty McCue has a very busy day between caring for kids and animals.  She starts at 5 a.m., and an hour later she’s feeding and pasturing her 14 Thoroughbreds at a barn in White Hall, MD. Two hours and 18 miles later, she’s dressed, showered, and saying the morning Pledge of Allegiance with 24 second graders at Timonium Elementary School, where she is a teacher. At the end of the school day, she does the long drive back up to White Hall to care for her horses until evening. The good part about this evening shift is McCue is rarely alone—students from Timonium Elementary and Ridgely Middle …