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Lyme disease is primarily spread to both dogs and humans through the bite of an infected tick. Many different species of ticks can be involved, including the deer tick, the western black-legged tick, and the black legged tick. Ticks are tiny parasites that are difficult to see with the naked eye and can easily hide on people and pets.

Ticks, however, are not the only way the disease can be spread, fleas and other biting insects are capable of spreading it as well. There have been incidents in which Lyme disease has been transmitted by direct contact with infected body fluids. This ease of transmission has made Lyme disease one of the most commonly reported tick-borne diseases.

The symptoms of Lyme disease in dogs include lethargy, loss of appetite, high fever, swollen lymph nodes and joint, and/or a sudden onset of lameness. Veterinarians have the ability to test for this disease in house and should be consulted immediately if any of the symptoms develop. Rapid treatment of a diagnosed case of Lyme disease is essential to prevent permanent damage to the joints on internal organs.

To lessen your dogs chances of contracting lyme disease, you should vaccinate him. After the initial immunization, a booster is recommended three weeks later, followed thereafter by annual re-vaccinations. The symptoms of Lyme disease in humans are similar to those found in dogs, and vaccination of the family dog will help to prevent the spread to humans.

A tick must feed on the host for approximately 24 hours before spread of the disease takes place. When you return from an outing, carefully check your dogs skin and coat, including the groin, around the ears and tail and between the toes. If a tick is found, remove it immediately with an alcohol swab and tweezers. After applying the alcohol to the tick, carefully pull the tick upwards. Try not to squeeze the tick while removing it as this may force bacteria from the tick, back into the animal.

If possible, save the tick in a jar or sealed container. If the dog becomes sick or exhibits any of the symptoms described earlier, your veterinarian can identify the type of tick to aid in the choice of antibiotics to use. When it comes to ticks, do not take any chances.

Randy Jones and his partner Brent Jones have been in the pet industry for a long time. Recently they formed http://www.joncopets.com. On the site, customers can shop for the latest dog collars, dog clothes, pet supplies and more. Check them out at http://www.joncopets.com.

This school year Miami Schools is opening four new schools and several new facilities to cope with increased student enrollment for the 2006-2007 school year. The new schools will cater to elementary, middle and high school students.

Miami Schools has added the Ronald W. Reagan High School in the northwestern part of the district. This is an area that is expanding rapidly. The new high school will cover about 20 acres and house extremely modern facilities. The Ronald W. Reagan High School will have 250,000 square feet of classrooms, computer lab, an 800 seat auditorium, a 700 seat cafeteria, a Media Center and a gymnasium. Also on campus there will be a number of outdoor areas: fields for football, soccer, softball and baseball as well as basketball, tennis and racquetball courts.

The most innovative part of Miami Schools Ronald W. Reagan High School is that it is an academy based design. This means that ninth grade students will be tested and surveyed to discover their interests and areas of strengths and then be encouraged to select from three academies. The three academies on campus will be Cambridge Academy, Information and Communications Technology Academy, and the Classical Arts Academy. These academies will both have separate facilities and share common school facilities. This is part of Miami Schools continuing educational reform plan.

In the southern part of the district, Miami Schools will open the new Norma Butler Bossard Elementary School. The campus will cover 7.5 acres. The school will be equipped with a Media Center, music and art centers, a cafeteria that will accommodate nearly all the students, a three story classroom building, bilingual rooms, a well equipped science laboratory, and a Wellness Center. The Wellness Center will be available for staff and student use. This school is named for Norma Butler Bossard, who had served as the Miami Schools language arts division head for many years.

Another innovation for the Miami Schools is the newly constructed David Lawrence, Jr. K-8 Center. The K-8 Center will be a world class facility that is adjacent to Florida International University. Miami Schools will work in conjunction with Florida International University to provide professional development for Miami Schools teachers and Florida International Universitys education majors. The K-8 Center will be able to house nearly 1,600 students. The state of the art facility will include a Media Center, computer labs, art labs, and music centers. The K-8 Center will be home to the Johnson and Wales University nutrition and cooking workshops. These workshops are part of Healthy Eating/Healthy Choices, a grant the school received from Health Foundation of South Florida. The cooking workshops will be open to staff and parents.

The last addition Miami Schools is the Young Womens Preparatory Academy. This is the first all female school to be operated by Miami Schools. The Young Womens Preparatory Academy will accommodate 450 girls in grades 6-12. The Young Womens Preparatory Academy will have a thorough educational curriculum that will develop the academic, personal and social skills of the students. The school aims to prepare its students for postsecondary education and the world.

Stacy Andell is a staff writer for Schools K-12, providing free, in-depth reports on all U.S. public and private K-12 schools. Stacy has a nose for research and writes stimulating news and views on school issues. For more information on Miami schools visit http://www.schoolsk-12.com/Florida/Miami/index.html

It had been years since I last visited my boyhood chum Ricky. He used to be a teammate of mine on the school baseball team, but he was obviously the better athlete since he was also on the school football team and basketball team. But I actually haven't seen him practicing much the last few months and when I visited him at home, I discovered why. To my great surprise, Ricky was enamored with his pet parrots.

He had about a dozen of them in one big cage in all colors, shapes and sizes. It was like an explosion in a paint factory. Ricky even had names for all of them and had started buying all the books he could find about parrots. I started reading these books and was absolutely fascinated about what I discovered.

There are actually two groups of parrot families -- the cacatuidae or cockatoos and the Psittacidae or true parrots. It turns out that there are exactly 353 species of birds that can fall under these two categories. The common characteristics they share include a curve shaped beak with the upper mandible having limited mobility and an erect stance. Did you know that all parrots have four toes on each foot, two at the front and two at the back?

Wherever its warm, youre likely going to find a parrot there. These include such places like India, Southeast Asia and West Africa. There was also one parrot breed that could be found only in the United States but it is now extinct, the Carolina Parakeet. According to studies, the most number of parrot species can be found in Australasia, South America and Central America.

Among the types of parrots that are usually kept as pets are the conures, macaws, Amazons, cockatoos, African Greys, lovebirds, Cockatiels, Budgerigars and parakeets, mainly because they are richly colored and boast of many different color combinations. People sometimes clip the wings of their pet parrots to keep them earth-bound. Others prefer to keep their parrots flighted. There are parrots that can live up to 80 years, including cockatoos, Amazon parrots, African Grey Parrots and the larger macaws, have very long life-spans of up to 80 years.

Kadence Buchanan writes articles for http://etotallypets.com/ - In addition, Kadence also writes articles for http://worldofartandleisure.com/ and http://familyinformationsource.com/.