ActBlue representatives declined to say whether they have been contacted by the Justice Department.
“It’s harder to access loans or own a home; there’s no longer a set way to form a family,” said Dr. Marcos Díaz Videla, a psychologist specialized in human-canine relationships. “Animals are becoming part of the family. With humans, they’re shaping the dynamics, rituals and routines inside the home.”The tendency for pet owners to treat their dogs like kids is changing the cityscape as pet hotels, boutiques, cafes and even cemeteries spring up in Buenos Aires to cash in on the craze.
Carolina Morales holds her four-month-old son Benjamin as her husband Alejandro Tirachini holds the family pet Thay, whom they consider their first son, while they pose for a photo backdropped by a painting of Thay by artist Lisandro Guma, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)Carolina Morales holds her four-month-old son Benjamin as her husband Alejandro Tirachini holds the family pet Thay, whom they consider their first son, while they pose for a photo backdropped by a painting of Thay by artist Lisandro Guma, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)Pet beauty salons now pull out all the stops, providing not only baths and trims but pedicures and poolside spas. The Guau Experience parlor, for instance, charges up to $120 — roughly a quarter of the average Argentine monthly salary — for washing, cleaning, shining, conditioning, trimming and perfuming.
“They’re living beings who don’t stay around long. During that time, you have to give them the best,” said Nicole Verdier, owner of Argentina’s first-ever dog bakery, Chumbis, which makes cookies, cakes, croissants, burgers and canapés from gourmet meat, chicken and pork.This humanizing of dogs has even inspired a new noun — “perrhijo” — a fusion of the Spanish word for “dog” and “child.”
In Buenos Aires, where leash-pullers outnumber stroller-pushers in many neighborhoods, lawmakers have proposed a range of pet-friendly
, including bills to ease access for pets to public transport.Nearly three weeks after the kidney surgery the Chinese patient “is very well” and the pig kidney likewise is functioning very well, Dr. Lin Wang of Xijing Hospital of the Fourth Military Medical University in Xi’an told reporters in a briefing this week.
Wang, part of the hospital’s xenotransplant team, said the kidney recipient remains in the hospital for testing. Chinese media have reported she is a 69-year-old woman diagnosed with kidney failure eight years ago.But Wang pointed to a potential next step in xenotransplantation — learning to transplant pig livers. His team reported Wednesday in the journal Nature that a pig liver transplanted into a brain-dead person survived for 10 days, with no early signs of rejection. He said the pig liver produced bile and albumin — important for basic organ function — although not as much as human livers do.
The liver is a complex challenge because of its varied jobs, including removing waste, breaking down nutrients and medicines, fighting infection, storing iron and regulating blood clotting.“We do find that it could function a little bit in a human being,” Wang said. He speculated that would be enough to help support a failing human liver.