I had a guildie tell me his mouse was freaking out too. I found out he was using his old nVidia drivers and was going to upgrade them to the newest Detonator drivers and let me know if that helped. You might try that, but i have yet to hear from him to find out if that worked yet.
as far as the pet stuff, I shall mess with the xml and see if that is doable, i kinda like that idea. (Thanks) If it works out, I will added to the skin for good, lol