Pet Punter

Posts Tagged ‘pet food’

Hamster mixes are readily available from pet stores. These will usually contain a variety of cereals seeds, as well as sunflower seeds and peanuts. These oil seeds should be offered in small quantities because of their high fat content, which can lead to obesity if they form the bulk of the hamster’s diet. Commercial pelleted diets are also available, although these tend to be the most expensive option. Use a small, heavyweight earthenware pot as a food bowl and provide fresh drinking water in a bottle, attached to the side of the hamster’s quarters.

Do not forget to offer a little fresh drinking food, such as piece of sweet apple or greenstuff, on a daily basis as well. This can occasionally be sprinkled with a special small-animal vitamin and mineral supplement as an additional tonie. It is very important to match the amount of food offered to the hamster to the quantity being eaten because, otherwise, a hamster is likely to waste food, carrying it back to its nest in its check pouches. Hamsters instinctively hoard food in this way, building up large supplies in their burrows when food is scarce above ground. Take particular care with fresh food, because this is likely to rot if left in the bedding material for a couple of days. It is a good idea to check the bedding regularly as this is likely to be harmful to your pet’s health. There are also a number of commercial treats now available to supplement your hamster’s diet. These are useful for taming purposes, and can be offered directly by hand.

Waxmoth larvae are also very popular as a diet for lizards, and these are particularly valuable for rekindling the appetite of a sick individual and helping it to regain condition. The waxmoth larvae need to be kept cool to delay their pupation.

If the larvae are allowed to develop, they will emerge as moths and can be fed to various lizards, such as chameleons, which will enjoy being able to catch their dinner themselves if the moths are emptied into the vivarium. The substantial size of all kinds of the lizards means that they will feed happily on giant mealworms.

A wide range of commercial diets are now produced for tropical fish, with specialist foods, such as catfish pellets, available for specific varieties. Pelleted foods sink to the bottom of the tank, whereas flake foods float on the surface, which makes them valuable for surface-feeding fish. Although these foods will keep the fish in excellent health, it does not help to vary their diet. The provision of livefoods will help to trigger breeding behavior.

Although aquatic livefoods such as tubifex worms can be provided, there is a risk that they will introduce disease. It is safer to feed livefoods such as tubifex in a freeze-dried state; food prepared in this way can also be stored for longer. You can purchase frozen fresh livefoods, which should be defrosted before being fed to the fish. Never overfed with this food because it will quickly decay in the aquarium if left uneaten.

Carbohydrates are the major energy source for most animals, but the cat can, in fact, survive without them. The cat’s main natural food sources, birds and mice are relatively low in carbohydrates, apart from what is found in the stomach of the prey. Carbohydrates are a cheaper energy source than protein-rich meat and fish and are usually incorporated into most commercial cat foods. Carbohydrates should not make up more than 40 percent of the diet.

It can provide a beneficial boost of readily available energy at times of growth, pregnancy, nursing or stress. They are also a useful source of fiber, which, although not digested by the cat, provides bulk in the faeces. A wild cat could obtain fiber from the fur, feathers or stomach contents of its prey, but he domestic cat obtains in from most commercial cat foods in the form of cellulose or plant fiber.

If you already have perfectly suitable dishes, special purchases may not be necessary. The most practical choices are made of hard plastic, ceramic or stainless steel. All equipment should be easy to clean and disinfectant. Discard cracked or chipped ceramic bowls, as germs may be harbored in the cracks.

Once any container, new or old has been allotted to the cat, it should not be used for anything else. Many people feed their cats in the kitchen; if there are dos around, it is also likely that the cat is feed on a working surface. In either case it is especially important to maintain strict standards of hygiene to guard against the risk of toxoplasmosis. The feeding area must be easy to clean and disinfectant regularly.

This is important for the cat because it has a highly developed sense of smell and will reject food that has become tainted and hardened. For the same reasons, put down fresh water at least once a day. A closed-off eating area is advisable if you have crawling babies or toddlers. Busy owners whose lifestyle makes feeding the cat at regular time’s uncertain so automatic food bowls with timer switches are available. The cover automatically lifts to reveal food at pre-set times.

You can feed your rodent a seed-based diet, which contains cereals such as wheat and flaked maize or, preferably a pelleted diet, which contains all the necessary ingredients to keep rats and mice in good health. If you are not feeding your rodent a pre-formulated diet you may need to use a supplement to compensate for any nutritional deficiencies. Sprinkle the supplement over the rodent’s favorite tidbits. When it comes to fresh food, it is best to offer it in small amounts on a regular basis. Although it will not contribute greatly to the protein intake, it will provide valuable vitamins and minerals. Large amounts of fresh food eaten at one time can trigger digestive upsets.

Avoid using mixes that contain significant proportions of oil seeds, such as sunflower or peanuts. These are not recommended for rats and mice on a long-term basis as they are likely to provide skin irritations. There is no harm in offering another treats, such as small subes of cheddar cheese and raisins. The occasional sunflower seed or nut can be used when taming your rodent to feed from the hand. Attempts to hand-feed could lead to bitten fingers. A water bottle that attaches to the rodent’s quarters and an earth ware food container are both essential.

The poisons are likely to be encountered by a dog almost always those found around the house and garden. They include tablets and medicines intended for human consumption or not for internal use at all, household chemicals such as bleach or detergents and garden chemicals. Puppies will try anything. You must keep at potentially dangerous materials out of their reach, preferably in a locked cupboard. If an accident does occur, and you think your dog has eaten something that could be poisonous, there are two things to do.

Make the dog sick. If this is to be of any help, it must be done before the poisonous substance has had a chance to be absorbed from the stomach, so do it before contacting your veterinary surgeon. But if you know your vet is immediately available for advice, and you are certain what it is the dog has eaten do not make the dog sick until you have spoken to the vet. The most effective substance to use to make the dog sick is washing soda.

Put two small crystals on to the back of the dog’s tongue, and make him swallow them by holding his mouth shut and stroking his throat. Vomiting will take within minutes so be prepared with old newspapers at hand. Contact your veterinary surgeons. Retain some of the poisonous substance, or at least its wrapping to show him or her. There may be no ill effect or immediate further treatment may be necessary.

Most larger parrots are traditionally fed a seed mixture mainly comprising sunflower seed and peanuts and lesser amounts of foods such as flaked maize and pumpkin and safflower seeds. In comparison, cocktails and parakeets are offered a higher percentage of cereal seeds in their diet, such as canary seed and millets, including millet sprays as well as groats, which are particular favorite of Pyrrhura concurs. Seed mixes for budgerigars consist exclusively of small seeds, notably millet and canary seed, which can be provided more easily in a seed hopper than in an open food container.

As with seed mixes for finches, however, even the best of these diets will not meet all the nutritional needs of the birds. They are generally deficient in the key dietary ingredients such as Vitamin A and calcium, which is why comprehensive vitamin and mineral supplement will be required, along with daily portions of fresh, diced fruit and greenstuff. In recent years, manufacturers have developed a range of complete diets suitable for small parrotlets up to large macaws.

It is not always so easy to persuade birds to sample them, in spite of the fact that they have a superior nutritional value to seed. Young parrots that have been hand-reared on complete diets in a liquid form will usually continue eating them, once they are weaned, but older individuals that have lived on sunflower seed for years can be very reluctant to sample something new. Certain types of parrots are worse in this respect than others, with cockatoos being reluctant to try unfamiliar foods, including fruit and greenstuff.

Bird seed is deficient in number key ingredients, and you will need to supplement the bird’s diet to make up for these shortcomings. Some seed mixes contain vitamin and mineral supplements coated on to dehulled seeds, so that they will not be wasted as there is no husk for the bird to remove. Other mixes can contain added pellets of nutrients, although birds will often avoid eating these nuggets, choosing to eat only their regular seeds, and it will be less easy for you then to monitor their diet. Grit will supplement mineral requirements and will assist in the birds digestive process.

As an alternative, try a vitamin and mineral powder, which will stick well to damp greenstuff, or a similar product added to the drinking water. Feeding fresh natural foods, such as chickweed, dandelion and seeding grasses can also help to compensate for any deficiency. Calcium is essential mineral and is particularly important for the hen during the breeding season as it is the main constituent of eggshells. Cuttlefish bone is a valuable source of calcium, and this will also help to keep the birds’ bills in trim as they peck at the powdery surface. Scrape a little off the surface at first to make it easier for them to start nibbling.

Dogs are adaptable creatures. They can, for instance, utilize protein foods, like meats, for energy if their intake of carbohydrates is deficient. They must, however, be provided with a minimum level of each of around thirty nutrients, including the vitamin and minerals, if they are to stay healthy. All the modern prepared foods and the great majority of home-mixed diets, will provide an adequate supply of essential nutrients. Some animals’ protein is essential to maintain a dog’s health. A vegetarian diet for dogs can be devised but requires skill, although there is no doubt their dogs do not need the level of animal protein in their diet that is commonly provided.

Some fats are also vital in the diet, providing certain essential fatty acids, and acting as carriers for the fat-soluble vitamins. Carbohydrates from the bulk of most diets, including normal dog foods, whether commercially compounded or home-mixed. Provided your dog’s diet has a reasonable and the foods are not themselves wildly out of the ordinary, the owner’s concern need only be with the actual quantity given to the dog, and the total calorie provision.

The obvious and cheapest way to feed a dog is to give it biscuits alone. They offer the highest calorie content, weight for weight, of any food except pure fat, and dog biscuits are cheaper to buy than canned foods. But this is misleading because a diet that consisted solely of dog biscuits would be seriously deficient in protein and it would be deficient in fats, vitamins and minerals.

Obesity: One of the commonest afflictions in the dog is simple obesity. Owners will frequently not see it and one acknowledged, it may still be extremely difficult for them to understand that reducing the dog’s food intake is not cruel. The obesity diet has its part to play by enabling the owners to feed a low-calorie diet to the dog, which will satisfy the hunger pangs while reducing his intake of nutrients. The diet needs to be balanced by sensible variations of other important nutrients.

As an example, if you wished to reduce your dog’s weigh to 20kg, using the slower scale you would need to feed not more than 600 calories a day. Without resourcing to a special diet, this could be achieved by a total daily feed of 115 g of meat and 130 g of biscuit mixer. This is not a lot of food on a large dog’s plate, and it explains why special reducing diets, which give bulk and fill the dog’s stomach, are popular.