winter.

After a slight delay, winter has finally struck. Well, that all depends on where you live in the U.S. Here in Southern California, winter never really strikes. But if you live in Fargo, you've likely been doing some shoveling lately. We know it's a bummer to have that obnoxious chore added to your morning commute, but not everyone hates snow so much. These zoo penguins look forward to it all year, for example. You can tell they're excited because of how chatty they are about it. So the next time you skid off the road and barely miss thwacking into a telephone pole, remember that someone out there is loving this marshmallow world. ...

jarko_, Flickr By Dr. Marty Becker, via Vetstreet Winter and summer both present challenges to keeping pets safe and comfortable, but winter is actually easier to prepare for since it's more about preventing exposure and less about the summer problem of preventing accidents. With one major exception: In cold weather, you always need to be aware of the possibility that a chilly cat could be cuddled against the warm engine of a recently parked car or in the dryer on a pile of warm clothes. Always check your dryer before using it, and thump the hood of your car before starting it to send any sleeping cat on his way. With very few exceptions, my snow country neighbors would never ...

Half the point of all of these holidays being celebrated in winter is that we need excuses to celebrate at this time of year more than any other. Particularly if you live in a snowy climate, winter is dreary at best. Besides the lack of daylight for months on end, there's lots of inconvenient and sometimes dangerous weather to look forward to. But now the holiday season is wrapping up, and winter is just getting started. It might seem like there's nothing to celebrate. But take a tip from this adorable panda. Don't think of your holidays as a reason to avoid thinking about winter; use them as a reason to celebrate winter itself. He wants you to see that snow is a gift. Sure, he doesn't have ...

Winter! Everyone loves to play in the snow, right? Snow is fluffy, it's flaky, and it's fun. Even a curious cat can dig a few inches of snow on the ground. That is, until they notice that the fluffy white stuff makes their fur all wet, and it dawns on their little cat brains that snow is just water in disguise! Ugh! ...

jmayer1129, Flickr Giving a pet as a gift on any occasion is almost always a bad idea. While puppies are perennially popular impulse holiday gifts, a puppy or adopted older dog is a lifetime commitment that should not be entered into lightly. That cute puppy under the tree on December 25 may be a big headache by the end of January for an unprepared gift-getter. Even for experienced potential pet owners, the holidays are the absolute worst time of year to adopt a new dog. No matter what your best intentions, a puppy will get lost in the shuffle of holiday festivities. Also, the winter weather and early darkness is not conducive to acquainting your dog with the outdoors. But just because you ...

Remember those ads for Coca Cola with the computer-animated polar bears wearing scarves and going sledding? Yeah, that was weird, but so, so cute. Good news is, we've got our paws on a video featuring a baby polar bear living it up in the fluffy white stuff, and we're not talking about his precious coat! So forget about those soda bears and get rid of those winter blues by watching this little guy get all roly poly! Now if there were only a way to get him into our backyard... More Polar Bears ...