After receiving worldwide attention, two Bengal tiger cubs who were breast-fed by a Yangon housewife have died of heat and dehydration. Hla Htay, a mother of a baby boy, answered a plea for help from Yangon's zoo and fed the cats three times a day after they were rejected by their tigress mother.

An Australian woman has invented a 3-step toilet training system for cats called the "Litter-Kwitter. " Jo Lapidge successfully taught her family's Burmese cat, Doogal, to use the toilet. The Litter-Kwitter starts with a red toilet seat-shaped disc filled with cat litter and sitting on the floor next to the toilet, like a normal tray. Next the red disc is placed on the toilet so the cat can get used to jumping up onto the seat.

New law under the city council in Turin, Italy, puts pressure on pet owners to treat their animals properly - having to follow the most stringent animal protection guidelines in the country. The 20-page rulebook details specific treatment of animals expected by the people of Turin. Dog owners will be fined up to 500 euros ($650) if they don't walk their pets at least three times a day. People will also be banned from dyeing their pets' fur or "any form of animal mutilation" for merely aesthetic motives such as docking dogs' tails, under the law about to be passed in the northern Italian city. "In Turin it will be illegal to turn one's dog into a ridiculous fluffy toy," the city's La Stampa daily reported. Italians can already be fined up to 10,000 euros and spend a year in prison if found guilty of torturing or abandoning their pets, but Turin's new rules go into much greater detail. Dogs may be led for walks by people on bicycles, the rules say, "but not in a way that would tire the animal too much. " Italy considers itself an animal-loving nation and in many cities stray cats are protected by law. Still some 150,000 pet dogs and 200,000 cats are abandoned in Italy every year, according to animal rights groups. To enforce the law, Turin police would rely largely on the help of tipsters spotting cruel treatment by their neighbors, La Stampa reported.

Hla Htay, 40, has taken responsibility for two Bengal tiger cubs by breast-feeding them daily. Three times a day, Htay, mother of a seven-month-old baby boy, goes to the Yangon zoo where she holds 45-minute breast-feeding sessions for the animals, rejected by their natural mother. "The cubs are just like my babies," Hla Htay told Fuji TV as one of the baby cats suckled her breast. In mid-march, three cubs were born at the zoo. The mother killed one and refused to nurse the others. After many numerous, unsuccessful attempts to bottle feed, veterinarians decided to try breast-feeding. "They had some difficulties sucking the nipple on the bottle. When we tried to get the cubs to suck a lady's breast, it was alright," said a veterinarian. The zoo has said the sessions will stop by the end of April or when the tigers start teething.