Category: Pet Foods

Harlan Teklad

Posted by Stephanie Raide – August 10

I’ve avoided and postponed writing this article about quarantine and rat care. The reason is the passing of our beloved Carmel on June 3, 2006. I’m still teary-eyed as I write this and even more painful is the knowledge that his suffering may have been prevented by proper observation of quarantine. This is crucial information if you wish to keep rats as pets.

Observing proper quarantine practices is essential to rat health when another rat is to be introduced into your household. It’s not like bringing in a puppy as a companion for old Fido. Your new pet rat may carry diseases particular to rats (but harmless to humans). The immediate introduction of other healthy-looking pet rats is extremely dangerous for your current rats and may ultimately be fatal.

I’m no vet or super rat expert, but I’ve learned the hard way that pet rats have very tender little lungs that are susceptible to nasty pneumonia-like illnesses that can result in death if not treated immediately upon infection. To prevent any possibility of such infections as much as you can, here are the necessary steps for a safe and effective quarantine:

1. Do not bring your new arrival into the home of your current pet rats. You must first find someone living in a separate building who is willing to house your pet rat during the quarantine period. If a new arrival shares airspace with your pet rats, even if just in the same house on different floors, they will become infected.

2. Do plan on a quarantine period of at least three weeks and no less. Many well experienced rat folk prefer to extend it to a full month. During that time, you’ll be watching for any signs of illness in your new rat: sneezing, red discharge in the eyes or nose, refusal to eat and lethargy. Should your new pet rat exhibit such symptoms, immediately contact a veterinarian in your area with experience in rat care. In my own case, Carmel’s sneezes were ignored until the disease had progressed to a more stubborn stage.

Signs of illness may include but are not limited to any of the following:

* Red secretions from eyes or nose
* Sneezing
* Wheezing
* Rough coat
* Labored breathing
* Lethargy
* Hunched posture
* Swelling on neck or body
* Abscesses
* Scabs or itching
* Diarrhea
* Constipation
* Lack of appetite
* Eye ulcerations, bleeding, or swelling
* Visual identification of parasites including lice nits
* Abnormal odor from the rat
* Abnormal smelling feces or urine
* Respiratory distress
* Head tilt or abnormal gait
* Thinness

3. Do not handle or touch another rat right after doing so with the quarantineed rat. Disease can be spread by contact as well as through the air just like the human cold virus. The consensus among those in the know is to change clothes and wash all areas of your skin that came in contact with the quarantineed rat. Better yet, handle them on alternating days when you’ve showered and dressed in clean, fresh clothes. Again, this is a rule we constantly broke due to our ignorance about proper rat care.

4. Do not allow others to touch the quarantineed rat. If one person does all the caretaking for your new pet rats, the chance of transmitting something is a lot less. The kids and the in-laws and the neighbors can all wait.

Seems like a big deal, doesn’t it? Your current pet rat is just that susceptible to outside diseases and your new rat is just that likely to spread exactly that. If you can’t make this kind of arrangement, don’t bother at all with getting another rat until your current ones have passed away.

Some more tips for keeping your pet rats in good health during quarantine:
# Avoid pet stores that sell rats.
# Do not handle rats at pet stores or shelters.
# Inform fellow rat fanciers that your pet rats are under quarantine.
# If you are exposed to outside rats, clean up as soon as you return home or wait awhile before going into your home. SDA and Sendai will only remain contagious when away from the host for approximately 3 hours. Go for dinner and a movie or visit friends.
# Avoid housing rats in areas where wild rats have access.
# Avoid taking your rats to rat inclusive events.
# Avoid constantly adding to your colony. It is safer to get rats less often and quarantine them well.

Want to find out more about Harlan Teklad, then visit Stephanie Raide’s site on how to choose the best Harlan Teklad for your needs.

Pet Rats

Posted by Stephanie Raide – August 8

Anyone looking for a new pet wants a pet that is clean, socialized and well trained. Most people don’t know that these are all qualities of pet rats!

There are many misconceptions about rats. People think that rats are unclean and carry disease. In fact, rats are quite clean and groom themselves several times a day. These aren’t sewer rats we’re talking about. These pet rats, or fancy rats as they’re called, have been domesticated and bred in captivity for at least 150 years.

Rats are very intelligent animals. Some consider rats to have intelligence close or equal to that of dogs. Rats are capable of learning to come when their names are called. They can even be litter trained just as easily as training a cat.

If you have any experience with other rodents such as hamsters, mice or gerbils you may be afraid of biting. This is almost unheard of with domesticated rats. Unlike their rodent cousins, rats are generally docile creatures. Most of the time rats just like to lay around, especially males. Rats can easily be trained to be good lap pets.

In the wild, rats live together and have a complex social structure. These social instincts carry over to pet rats. Pet rats tend to develop strong bonds to humans and to their cage mates. So much so that its common for rats to become very depressed when a cage mate passes away.

Many apartments won’t allow dogs or cats, and it may simply be impractical to have larger pets in some houses. In those situations a pet rat is perfect. Cages for pet rats usually don’t consume much room at all which makes pet rats great for small apartments.

Rats are friendly and intelligent animals and make great first pets for children. Being clean and easy to care for makes them great companions for the elderly. Go out and get your pet rat today!

Find out more about what to feed rats.

Food Options For Your Golden

Posted by Luke Walton – June 17

Like many other topics relating to food and health, it’s difficult to get objective information about proper diet. Many authors seem intent on bashing large companies and more interested in politics than pet food.That means anyone interested in finding out the scientific facts about what is and what isn’t good for their Golden Retriever has to do a lot of research. A short article can’t be anything more than another voice in that dialogue.Selecting the proper food, therefore, will require the exercise of some common sense and a fair amount of diligence. Any extreme claim should be met with skepticism. Avoid being swayed by emotional appeals and horror stories.Even those opposed to the more popular, commercial dog foods agree on some basics about Golden Retriever diet. As canines, they are by nature carnivores. That means they have evolved to eat meat. All dogs, though (and Goldens in particular), have the capacity to digest some grains and vegetables.Wolves in the wild will eat not only the muscle meat, but also the internal organs of their prey. In doing so, they’ll ingest what their kill has previously eaten, which is often grasses and vegetables and other plant material. Since Golden Retrievers ultimately are descended from, and closely genetically related to, wolves they have similar capacities.There is general agreement, then, that Golden Retrievers should have a diet that contains a substantial percentage of meat proteins with a minimum of grains. And this is just what one finds in most commercial dog food, both wet and dry.Ingredients on both cans and bags are listed in order of percentage of the total, even though the percentages themselves are rarely listed.A kibble (dry dog food) that shows chicken or lamb meal will generally be in the range of 20-30% meat protein, in a form that has been dehydrated. To that has been added preservatives, sometimes Vitamin E (tocopherol), in order to keep the kibble from spoiling during the long period it is in the bag. Meat (in some form) should be first on the list.

Rice comes then.Some will use an inexpensive form called Brewer’s Rice. Those are the small, milled fragments of rice kernels. These become separated from the larger kernels during the milling process. But ground rice is preferred, since it’s of higher quality.Many commercial dry pet foods will have some corn or wheat gluten meal or even wheat flour. Some Goldens are sensitive to this, as evidenced by excessive paw licking or face scratching on the carpet or grass. They may bite the parts of their back and legs they can reach.

What diet they’re fed affects less.Like any animal, they can have an itch that is not an allergic reaction. But, sensitive or not, these ingredients should comprise a relatively small proportion of the total.

Corn gluten meal in particular should be low then.It’s a plant protein that is added in order to slow down the chemical activity of certain fats. It is created from the dried residue of corn after the removal of the starch and germ.

Meat byproducts are common to see in the list.These are the parts of chickens, lamb or cows that are not used for other purposes. Certain foods may contain parts of the neck, feet or even beaks or intestines. Avoid foods that list these as ingredients.Though the controversy over what to feed your Golden Retriever isn’t going to go away soon, you can still feed your dog without fear. Observe the thousands of dogs that are healthy who are fed popular commercial dog foods. Though the food could no doubt be improved, this is strong evidence they are not harmful. Millions of dogs eat them and live long, happy lives.

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In What’s Vitamin D-3?

Posted by Dominic Bowen – May 29

X Makeup of Vitamin D3

Vitamin D3 is fat-soluble and comes in several forms. The first is named cholecalciferol, the 2nd is calcindiol or 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 and the 3rd is calcitriol or 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3. The last is the active version of vitamin D3–the version that your body uses in absorbing calcium.

What Vitamin D3 Does in the Body

You want vitamin D3 to correctly absorb calcium. You also need D3 to help your body build robust and healthy bones. This is particularly the case during development years, but all through life you want D3 to stay healthy. Another function vitamin D3 meets is reducing soreness in the body and building the immune reaction. Vitamin D3 is crucial for your overall HEALTH and well-being.

Where it comes from

Ultraviolet B radiation helps to turn 7-dehydrocholestrol into an initial sort of vitamin D3. There are relatively few foods that naturally have vitamin D3 in them, though some fish do. Some foods are enriched with vitamin D3 nonetheless , to boost their nutritive benefits,eg milk. Supplements may also be brought to get your daily requirement of the vitamin.

Foods That Contain Vitamin D3

Some foods naturally contain vitamin D3. Fish and fish liver oils are especially good for getting D3, in particular tuna and salmon. Nonetheless other foods like egg yolks, cheese and beef liver contain it in minute levels. Most milk is strengthened with vitamin D3, which is most people’s source of the substance. Other foods that are fortified with vitamin D3 include fruit juices, cereal, marg and yogurt.

What Takes place when You aren’t getting Enough Vitamin D3 A vitamin D3 deficiency is serious. Since the vitamin is essential in your body’s ability to absorb calcium, folk with a deficiency can develop rickets, a condition in kids that causes the bones to not develop correctly and become soft. It also causes puny bones and muscles in adults. There are cautioning signs of a vitamin D3 deficiency that include muscle weakness and bone pain. .

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Facts on Vitamin and Pills

Posted by Dominic Bowen – May 6

The unhealthy foods we eat in excess,eg refined sugars, are culprits in depleting us of some vitamins and minerals. As an example, a surplus of sugar in the system can lead to a depletion of zinc, chromium, magnesium and folic acid. Also, a fat individual who is exercising continually and consuming less than normal may need vitamin and mineral supplementation. Many Jamaicans don’t meet their nutritional needs through food consumption alone. Vitamine

Supplements are meant to be an addition to daily diet and not to replace needed food. When unsure about our body’s nutritional deficiencies, it is safe not to beef up beyond the nutrients found in a top quality multiple vitamin / mineral supplement. This is especially applicable for the mineral iron which is probably harmful when oversupplied. It’s a great idea to do a check with a medical doctor o pharmacist before supplementing.

Vitamine

Trace elements Trace elements are required in minute quantities, but make a contribution to health in a huge way. Chromium, copper, iron, selenium and zinc are examples. Chromium increases the cells ‘ sensitiveness to insulin which helps to regulate blood sugar and reinforce heat production for weight reduction. Chromium helps to build lean tissue, and heavy exercise and injury increase the body’s requirement for it and potentially lead to a deficit. Chromium is generally available in the form of chromium picolinate supplement. A daily dose of 50 to four hundred micrograms is endorsed for augmentation.

Vitamine

Calcium Calcium is the commonest mineral in the body, and most of it is carried in the bones. It is important for heart and nerve function, muscle tone and contraction. Dieting can shift the quantity of calcium soaked up from food, exhausting the body’s supply. For adult dieters, 1,000 milligrams of calcium daily is recommended. Remember that vitamin C and vitamin D improve its absorption.

Vitamine

Some latest studies with calcium show some promise for weightloss ; diets loaded in calcium may help break down fat and result in weight loss. Calcium may do it by binding to fat in the tummy and carrying it out of the body. But other studies contradict these findings, so we wait for yet more studies.

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The Best Pet Food Is Not The Cheapest

Posted by Bryson McDaniels – May 5

As a pet owner, Solutions get my two thumbs up and entire hearted approval. The products are a wonderful selection of food to feed your cats or dogs merely because of the reality that it is jam-packed with particularly top quality, all organic, human grade ingredients specifically engineered to help keep your pet healthy and nourished for several years to come! You will never ever uncover preservatives, fillers, by- goods, or artificial ingredients in any pet food items. This is a single with the primary secrets and is certainly vital to keeping your pet healthful as these artificial and filler ingredients are harmful to their general well-being.

Mainly because corn, soy, or other wheat ingredients have been identified to become poor for pets, you may rest assured the fine folks over in the pet food products have taken the precautions to not add any of it in. In other words, these products are made up of only the finest ingredients and precautions are taken to make sure none from the negative stuff gets in. pet food consists of lots of the following entire foods that you just may well not uncover in other commercial pet foods, including: whole brown rice, complete barley, complete sweet potatoes, complete carrots, potato flour, rye, oatmeal, menhaden fish meal, alfalfa, and ground flax seed.

Clearly something of greater excellent comes at a greater cost than other commercial brands; having said that, our furry buddies are nicely worth it once they receive the nutrition and nourishment that is certainly essential to a happier and healthier life! Alternatively, it would also be fairly handy to offer them these gains as well as saving our cash, and that may be when coupons are available in.

If you use coupons, you get high quality foods that your pet deserves and at a fraction of the cost! So where do you get your coupons? Really don’t waste time looking as a result of newspaper clippings, come directly towards the world-wide-web for the coupons demands! We do our most effective to help keep the newest coupons obtainable on our web site. Nevertheless, in case you are obtaining any troubles or concerns, simply check their official web page internet site where they could from time to time have coupons that might be prepared to print and bring to your nearby retailer for products!

It’s our greatest goal to become the absolute, quantity 1 go-to on the net resource for pet owners to trust for coupons! Please check back for all of your coupon requires and feel free of charge to send us an e mail with any of one’s questions. We are extra than delighted to assist!

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