All About Pets

Archive for 2011

When it comes to sending birthday flowers, it’s hard to go wrong – or at least so you would think! Getting Aunt Ermintrude that bouquet of beautiful lilies delivered to her door might have seemed like a foolproof gift, but in reality you could be sending a potential poisonous flower-bomb into a pet-friendly home. The last thing you want is Aunt Emintrude’s ailing cat on your conscience.

Organising a flower delivery to a pet owner is a tricky business. Think of it like flower Tetris; with so many potentially lethal plants and flowers in your local florist, getting the right combination is not a game for the light-hearted. Neither is it impossible though; with a little research into the world of botanics, you’ll soon be sending pet-friendly bouquets without a second thought. For the pet owners amongst us, this will come as a relief, as we all know how meddlesome our furry little friends can be when it comes to investigating things they are not supposed to touch.

The first, and most important, rule when it comes to sending flowers is never presume that a common household flower is safe – the internet is your friend, so use it wisely. Some of the most popular birthday flowers used in bouquets are actually poisonous to animals, so it’s vital that you double-check before you send them. You might, for instance, be surprised to learn that some species of lilies and orchids can cause serious damage to your beloved cats and dogs with just the slightest nibble of their blooms. Even something as innocent looking as ivy can cause issues to your pets, while the foxgloves you find in your garden are lethal. Another problem bloom that comes as a surprise to most are daffodils, which again are to be avoided if you own animals.

With their slight frames and delicate metabolisms, cats and dogs are easily susceptible to the poisons in plants that humans are immune to.  In some instances, these can lead to sickness and diarrhoea and can potentially be lethal. Not only may one of your beloved pets be in danger, but with the cost of veterinary treatment, you could be in for a hefty bill just to compound the misery.

But before you’re put off from ever sending a flower again for fear of poisoned felines and canines, it’s worth noting that there are plenty of non-toxic flowers that are perfect for special occasions. Flowers like tulips might have poisonous bulbs, but since you’re unlikely to have a vase of bulbs in your living room, it’s perfectly safe to opt for tulips. Popular house plants such as the African Violet are similarly non-toxic, making them a perfect choice for a gift. The key is to research plants and flowers on the internet first or even better ask your florist when you buy them.  That way, you can say ‘Thank you’ with flowers without having to send another bouquet to say ‘Sorry’.

When horses were first domesticated they were used in harness rather than being ridden. It was the invention of horse saddles thatrevolutionised the use of horses as riding animals.

Prior to the invention of saddles all riders rode bareback – a difficult feat in itself, let alone if you are carrying out military maneuvers!As you can imagine it also was particularly uncomfortable, especially when riding for long periods of time. It was from this that the idea of a saddle – which would act almost as a cushion between the horse and the rider – came about.

The invention of horse saddles cannot be linked to one person or even a group of people. Over time many cultures contributed to the development of the saddle as we now know it. This has resulted in a lack of widespread consensus of the full origins of horse saddles.

When first invented, saddleswere very rudimentary and looked more like cloth pads that were attached to the horse using a piece of equipment similar in appearance to what we would now know as a surcingle.

Over time these simple saddles became more refined and complex; they changed from cloth pads to leather making them much more durable. They were decorated with felt, hair and even gold; often indicating which tribe or group of people the rider was a part of.

Perhaps the biggest milestone in the history of saddle development came in the creation of a saddle tree; a feature that continues to be an important part of saddles these days. The leather was now stretched across this saddle tree. Thishelped by keeping the rider’s weight off the horse’s back which was found not only to improve the comfort for the rider but also to help the horse’s comfort and allow him to be ridden for longer periods of time.

Whilst there is some evidence of leather stirrups being in existence from approximately 5^th century BC, it is widely accepted that the development of stirrups as we now know them began around 300 – 500 AD in central Asia. The introduction of stirrups made riding far safer by giving the rider greater balance.

Nowadayshorse saddles come in a huge range of styles, usually aimed at general use or a specific discipline, e.g. dressage or western riding. They can be made in leather or a synthetic material and are available in a huge variety of sizes to suit every horse and rider.

A huge range of leather and synthetic horse saddles are available at great prices from www.EquestrianClearance.com.

To keep your cat’s eyes in good condition is necessary for clean up on a regular basis to prevent crusting and debris to accumulate in them. This operation is not always easy because the cat is not usually very collaborative show. In any case, it is best to be patient and proceed with the cleanup.

To clean the eyes, we dip a gauze in distilled water at room temperature and wash with it the eyes of your cat, always gently and without causing harm to the animal. It’s best to do this once every two or three days, although there are breeds such as Persians, in which we do daily to prevent infections and other eye problems to the animal.

In any case we use the same swab to clean both eyes, because we can transmit diseases from one another. Once a clean up or discard the gauze we have used and we will take a clean wash the other.

To clean the eyes with greater convenience, it is advisable to wrap the cat in a towel as we do, because it will be easier to hold and avoid being scratched while you are cleaning. Of course, we must make sure your legs are not bent or forced into an uncomfortable position for the animal. When finished, it is advisable to give him some candy and do some cuddle for the animal to associate the experience with a positive experience. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the questions that arise when we have an aquarium for the first time is how we feed our fish. Many owners do not follow a proper dietary guidelines, which causes harm to the health of the fish to feed them too much or poorly, and produce problems in the fish tank filter due to excess food that is floating in the water.

The first thing to do is advise the type of food we give to our fish depending on the species. In the store where we can advise buy this, and if we are buying food in a large area, it is important to read the signs of the food that we buy, as not all are suitable for all fish.

Something that many owners are unaware of is that fish are very greedy animals and will eat all the food within their reach. Usually you have the idea that fish eat only until satisfied, but it is not. That’s why we, when we feed them, give them a regular amount of food which is sufficient but not excessive, both to avoid bingeing as fighting to be done with food if it is scarce.

It is best to feed them once a day, as two, but this will always depend on each species, as there are some that need to be fed more regularly. Read the rest of this entry »

It is always fascinating to see a cat wandering peacefully by a dark area in which we could not move because our view prevents us from seeing anything. They are able to overcome obstacles, hunt and move with the same precision as if they did it in broad daylight. This is not due to special powers, but the eyes of cats, different from ours, are much better adapted to darkness. As nocturnal predators cats, nature has endowed with great visual acuity in the dark, so that way they can survive.

What we must know is that, despite appearances, cats can not see in complete darkness, in that case would feel as lost as us. They need a light, no matter how small, to thrive. How do they do?

First, the maximum pupil dilates at night to maximize available light. Just as the day his eyes are just two lines, for the night at nearly the diameter of the iris. Your retina also has a large number of light receptors, called rods, whose mission is to enhance the light that can enter the eye for better vision.

But surely the adaptation that allows them to live at night is called the tapetum lucidum, a membrane that is in the back of the eye and whose mission is to reflect light to redirect it to the receptors of the retina, so the animal can increase surrounding brightness, allowing a better view. The tapetum is the one that makes your eyes shine at night when they light focuses directly.

A mare’s pregnancy will last between 338 to 343 days, which is approximately 11 months. So that’s nearly a year of special care must be taken into account. Need to know what should or should not eat your horse, the first few days you should watch it much, and so on. Following a list we should care that your mare tip relating to your diet when you are pregnant:

- Remember that the horse will eat now for two and will need more nutrients but do not have to overdo it.

- The quality of food in a pregnant mare should be better than the food given to other horses. It should also be easy to digest.

- The diet of the mare should not make too fattening. Doing so food should be reduced. A horse with too much fat can pass really bad at birth and make the horse is too small. On the other hand, a malnourished horse can not properly maintain the rack so the risk of abortion is really high.

- It should touch the sides of the mare to check for correct weight. If you notice the ribs is that something is wrong.

- The colt grows during the last trimester of the pregnancy period, so this is the time in which the quality and nutritional content of food is much more special.

- It is advisable to give the horse a lot of food but the food should be given at regular intervals.

Scaridae parrotfish or are so called because the way they are distributed to your teeth makes your mouth resembles the beak of a parrot. The vivid colors of the specimens, especially females further contribute to this similarity.

Most species belonging to this genus are tropical and can be found in coral reefs Red Sea, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. Its scientific name comes from the Greek Scaridae skairos, which means to jump, due to the ability of these animals to jump thumping tail.

Parrotfish are not always along the colorful life worn by adults. When you are small, white body and orange head, tone becomes lighter towards the mouth. In the next stage, when it comes in the initial phase of adult male or female, the color becomes relatively homogeneous.

There are 80 species of fish, a parrot and all the largest, is the bicolor parrotfish, which can reach 120 centimeters.

One of the most intriguing aspects of these animals is that sex is not defined, but changes repeatedly throughout his life, like the colors and patterns of your body, which greatly complicates the task for scientists to classify all individuals. If the group dies the dominant male, one female group and gender change color to become the new dominant male.

Their diet is based on algae extracted from chunks of coral gnawing with its strong beak, which is the main mission of the same.

Many signs are scattered in this world. It is because the signs are important things that must exist in some places. However, sometimes the signs are not obeyed because the signs are torn (because it is made of paper), fragile (because it is made of wood), and rusty (because it is made of brass or aluminum).

Therefore, many people who divert materials maker signs by using slate. Slate signs certainly have an advantage signs made of paper, wood, and brass or aluminum. Slate signs will not be torn, brittle, or rusted. Bad things that might happen on the slate signs are dirty because of dust or streaks of people who are not responsible. However, it is not a problem; because these dirty can be cleaned with make use of a special fluid. After that, slate signs will look like new.

You can get a slate signs in stores making signs. Nevertheless, you can also buy them online. As in stores, you will be given slate signs design options are nice and unique. However, if you do not fit with the designs on offer, then you can provide the design that you want. The price is affordable so you do not have to worry if you want to order more slate signs. In addition, slate signs also can be regarded as goods that have long-term durability.

It is obvious that the number of fish in the aquarium that will fit depends on the ability of it, but it is also true that many aquarium owners do not have a certain idea of how many fish can fill your tank, which leads them, in some cases to maintain less than they could and, in others, to saturate the capacity of the same, which tends to increase irritability and aggressiveness of the fish, which tend to become mired in turf wars for lack of space.

We can find tanks in many sizes, from small to other hundreds of liters of capacity. However, for an aquarium environment, which can be between 60 and 90 liters, we can keep between ten and thirteen fish, although the number may vary depending on their size, as experts recommend calculating a liter of water per inch of fish.

So when we buy fish also have very much the size that they will achieve when they grow up, which can be very different from that with which we buy.

In this calculation we also take into account that we can not do so on the basis of capacity of the aquarium, but we subtract what we can take the filter, decor, and also need to be well informed about the aggressiveness or the territoritorialidad species, since the larger, more space will need to fish.

Finally, remember that in the number of fish you can include in the aquarium you have to have a cleaner and a limpiaparedes, to keep it as clean as possible. For other species, experts recommend having at least two members of each.

It may seem strange and unusual to have a snake as a pet at home, but now many people are following this new trend and a little dangerous for everyone. But if you really give them the care they need, a reptile of this type may be less stressed and feel at home with family members. It is important before bringing an animal home with these characteristics have a safe condition to prevent home accidents.

Tell us what they do, what they eat, where they rest and everything related to snakes is essential. Almost always, snakes are acquired boas or pythons which use the method of strangulation to kill their prey and do not have poison as many others. They have a very large and impressive strength. These snakes eat meat so that they give, when in captivity, fed mice. Water consumption is also required.

They are placed in glass tanks generally to give them room, they are cool sites for them and be separate from moisture. Snakes as with all pets to be acquired, must be cared for by responsible people who must ensure that they will be able to handle them with ease. They must also be vigilant in covering all your needs.

Lastly never forget sleeping with a snake in our room or near our bed is not recommended. Any prevention never hurts. Anyway, no more will you be living in their natural habitat in the wild?