April 19, 2012: We've scoured the Web to find the best and most compelling animal stories, videos and photos. And it's all right here.

Duchess the Dachshund nurtures a motherless kitten.

Devoted Dachshund Takes In Orphaned Kittens

When a litter of kittens in Louisiana lost their mom, a 7-year-old Dachshund named Duchess didn’t hesitate to take care of them. She’s now nurturing — and producing milk — for her third litter of felines in a year. Her owner, Sheila Hutson, says Duchess is so comfortable with kittens that they have to hide their own cat’s litter from her. “She's just a great mother," said Hutson. — Read it at The News-Star

Conservative Blog Digs Up Childhood Obama Dog Story

After months of hearing about Mitt Romney’s dog-on-the-roof tale, conservative blog The Daily Caller is pointing out that President Barack Obama revealed in his book, Dreams From My Father, that he ate dog meat while living in Indonesia as a child. The writer vows to bring up the tidbit every time that the Romney story is mentioned. — Read it at the Huffington Post

Plus: This isn’t the first time that dogs have played a role in election year politics. In 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s dog, Fala, caused quite the stir during an election year. — Read it at The Atlantic

Los Angeles May Ban Non-Rescue Pet Sales

In an effort to cut down on the city’s euthanasia rates — and eliminate puppy mills — the city council voted to ban stores from selling dogs, cats and rabbits who are not rescues. — Read it at CBS Los Angeles

Whale caught in net

Have You Seen This Whale?

Rescuers removed about 100 feet of fishing line from a tangled whale in California before it became too dark to finish the job. To make it easy to find the whale in the morning, they attached buoys to the animal, but it hasn’t worked. They’re now asking for help in spotting the creature, so they can completely free him. — Read it at ABC News

Vets Uncover an Effective Treatment for Bobcat Fever

Compared to previous methods, a new treatment being used for the deadly feline disease is more than twice as effective. One of the researchers, Dr. Leah Cohn, is now hoping to create a vaccine to protect cats from the disease, which is spread through tick bites. — Read it at Science Daily

Baby Parrot Dubbed One of the World’s Ugliest Birds

As if being rejected by his mother wasn’t bad enough, The Daily Mail called Nelson, who gets 24/7 care at a German zoo, a contender for the world’s ugliest bird. — See the photos at Today