Jul 27th, 2007 | Iguanas | Comments Off
Whether you own a dog, a cat, or an iguana, there is always a minimum amount of care required on a day-to-day basis to ensure your pet’s health and happiness. It is important therefore to invest a great deal of time in learning about proper care and maintenance of your pet.
This is especially true when you have a pet iguana. Owning an iguana is not like owning domestic animals such as a dog or a cat. You could end up with a lot of problems and frustration unless you do some research before you buy one.
For the sake of both you and your pet iguana, you need to be truly committed and be able to handle the responsibilities of owning such a unique animal. Iguanas are not for everyone. The level of care required to own this animal takes both time and money. You may want to attend a local herpetological society meeting to find out if owning an iguana fits into your lifestyle. One of the best ways to learn about this species is to talk to iguana owners and other people who have had first hand experience on how to raise them.
When talking to iguana owners, you may notice that there is a big difference of opinion on the amount of time, money, and effort it takes to raise an iguana. Some iguana owners claim that their pets are very easy to care for while some owners will say that caring for this type of pet can be quite a challenge. However, the difference is not in the animal itself, but in the attitude of the pet owner. What is hard and challenging for one owner may be easy and enjoyable for another.
Opinion: Taking care of an iguana is easy
For many owners, caring for their pet iguanas is simple and takes very little time and effort. Iguanas do not require the attention and time that some other pets do. Iguana owners believe that the biggest challenge in raising this special animal is the initial preparation of the right environment and diet. Once the initial set up is complete and the owners learned how to take care of their pet iguana, the rest of maintenance is simple and less demanding. Iguanas usually remain in one area for most of the day and only move for food, heat, or when they see something new in their environment.
Opinion: Taking care of an iguana is difficult
Many iguana owners believe that these animals do not make a good pet. For someone who has a genuine fascination, interest, and willingness to provide a suitable environment, these creatures can make a wonderful pet. But for many average pet owners, taking care of an iguana is more than what they have bargained for. Their special needs and requirements such as their diet and habitat can be quite overwhelming and expensive. They can get very large (up to 6ft) and require a very specific level care.
Jul 19th, 2007 | Dogs | Comments Off
Proper housebreaking should start with using a crate. A crate is the easiest way to teach your dog that he needs to wait to use the bathroom until you let him out to do so. Crate training will also allow your puppy to learn to keep his space clean. Once your puppy shows consistent potty training in his crate, it is then time to extend his living area. A simple and effective way to do this is to confine him to the same room where his crate was by using baby gates to block off the hallways and other rooms of the house.
Take Him Outside Often
The ultimate goal is to train your puppy to respect the cleanliness of your entire home, including every room. This is best done by exposing him to the outside environment as frequently as possible. There is something about nature that helps speed up the process of potty training your puppy. Every dog that I have trained seemed to progress at a rapid speed as soon as I introduced them to the outside. Nature somehow gives them an instinct to know that using the bathroom in patches of dirt and grass is where they should be going.
Lots Of Praise Is Essential
Any type of dog training is much more positive when you use plenty of loving praise. Each time your puppy successfully uses the bathroom outside, or other appropriate area you are training him to go in, be sure to praise him enthusiastically and shower the little guy with love and affection. It cannot be stressed enough just how important it is to praise lovingly in order to keep your dog practicing the same positive training habits that he is learning from you.
Don’t Be Hard On Mistakes
Too many dog owners become extremely frustrated when their new puppies urinate or poop inside the house and on the carpet. The sooner you realize that there are going to be times when you must clean up your dog’s mess, the better off your attitude will be. And this is important because when your puppy does make a mistake, you must remain positive and not schooled him harshly.
This is the number one mistake many pet owners make. They end up yelling and at times even hitting their dog when he uses the bathroom on the carpet. Unfortunately, this will only set back housebreaking training. Psychologically, your dog’s mind will start to relate going to the bathroom to something bad, even if he goes outside. Please avoid this negative training habit at all costs.
Jul 14th, 2007 | Cats | Comments Off
If you don’t already know this already, overweight cats can suffer numerous health problems, including a serious liver disease that is often fatal. This is an important issue which needs to be addressed if your cat appears to be a bit overweight. On the other hand, just as dangerous to your cat is the problem of not eating enough.
The problem: These cats are just too finicky!
It’s very rare to see a cat, or any animal for that matter, pass up food. I haven’t seen a cat skip a meal yet! However, there are a few finicky cats out there who are so choosy about what they eat that they end up being malnourished and underweight. These cats can become this way for a variety of reasons, but is typically the fault of the owner.
Sometimes cat owners get lazy and they buy the same old cat food day after day, week after week, month after month, until one day they realize that their cat isn’t eating the food anymore. They simply get sick of it. One way to prevent this is to cycle different flavors of cat food during the week, as well as try out different brands of cat food periodically.
It could be a medical issue
If your cat still refuses to eat and is looking very thin, the chances are high that there may be a medical problem in which you cannot solve yourself. In order to see if your cat is too thin, take a look at his ribs and if they are clearly visible then he has a problem and you must take him to the veterinarian.
What about the cat that does not eat, yet still gains weight?
This scenario is one I am familiar with personally. Being a cat owner myself, I started with owning just one cat many years ago. His name is “Sparks”. Every day I would come home from work and his food would not be touched. Only seldom did he eat in front of me and that was on the weekends when I was usually home all of the time. After a while I started to get a little concerned that there was something wrong, however he was still the same weight. Even the veterinarian claimed that he was totally healthy and getting more than enough to eat.
I found the problem. He was eating food from the outside trash bin. Sparks had figured out a way to escape the house while I was gone. In one section of our basement was an old ventilation shaft that was just big enough for him to squeeze through which led to the outside. What was happening was that he was escaping everyday and eating old food from trash cans and other foodstuffs that he would find.
Although this doesn’t seem like a major problem, there was a good likelihood that my cat ate something that was bad for him or toxic. Luckily he never got sick, but he could have. I realize that many cats practically live outside in the owners are okay with that. But for us house-cat owners, our little friends are more vulnerable to picking up diseases and toxic foods from the outside.
Jul 9th, 2007 | Dogs | Comments Off
If you are thinking about taking a trip to the animal shelter, brace yourself for some of the most heartbreaking sights you may see. You will most likely encounter a dog with an injured face, dogs that look sick and weak, or one with a limb missing or wrapped in bloody gauze.
As you pass by their individual crates, you will notice that a lot of them will be crying and howling. Some will be quiet and oblivious, while others will be barking nonstop. All of them, however, are desperate for love and attention.
There are many reasons why dogs end up in a shelter. Sometimes it is because the elderly owner had to move to a nursing home and has nobody else to take their dog, or the owner dies and the rest of his family aren’t able to keep it. Another case is when the owner has to go on military duty or make a sudden move to a place that does not accept pets.
Another very common reason for dogs ending up in a shelter is because they have a behavioral problem and the owner does not know how to fix it. These two reasons, in my opinion, do not make sense and do not validate the owner’s love for their dogs.
Most shelter dogs are not aggressive and do not suffer from any behavioral problems. However, they may look a bit disoriented because they are experiencing shelter shock, which is a type of stress that comes from being left isolated and out of control.
The first thing that may come to your mind is to save as many of these dogs as you can. Although this is a great idea, it is not realistic nor practical to do. The best thing you can do is to adopt only as many dogs as you can handle. You may also encourage people you know who are looking for pets to go to the shelter and rescue a dog instead of going to a breeder.
By doing these two things, you will not only give these dogs a second chance at life, but you are also preventing them from facing an untimely and unnecessary death. I personally have a mutt that I rescued at a shelter in San Diego and she turned out to be one of the sweetest dogs that I own.
Jul 2nd, 2007 | Dogs | Comments Off
Before you go to the shelter to adopt your new dog or puppy, make a list of what you want as far as physical and behavioral traits apply. Determine the type of dog that you have in mind. Are you looking for a big dog or a small dog? A puppy or an adult one? A dog who is independent or one that always thrives for your attention? Show your list to the shelter staff who can help you find the dogs that meet your preferences.
When you have found a good candidate, learn everything you can about that dog. Below are some of the things that you can do to find out if he is indeed the right dog for you.
1. Spend some alone time with the dog in the shelter. How does he act around you? Is he shy, aggressive, quiet, or high-strung? Look him in the eyes and then have him look at you. Do you feel any kind of connection taking place? I believe that there is such thing as chemistry between man and animals, and that is what you are trying to find here.
2. Ask questions about the dog’s health. Find out the last time he was seen by the vet. Ask if he has any kind of sicknesses that you should be aware of, such as hip dysplasia or worms.
3. Find out as much as you can about his history. What brought him to the shelter? Was he abused or neglected in any way? Does he appear to display a behavioral problem as a result of the abuse or neglect?
4. If you have kids, find out if the dog gets along with them before you take him home. Have your kids go with you to the shelter and observe how they react to the dog and vice versa. If you do not have children now but are planning to have one, have another child go with you and observe how they behave towards one another.
5. Find out how the dog behaves toward different dogs and other animals. Ask a shelter staff to bring some of the animals next to the dog and observe how he interacts with them.