Pets Care Center

Horses are beautiful, graceful and attractive animals. They are great pets, too. If cared properly, they can be strong and can live a healthy life. Horses do need special care in extreme weathers such as summer and winter. Following are some important summer horse care tips that you can use in order to keep cool in the extreme hot season.

Water:

The body of a horse is made up of 70% water; therefore, horses always need access to fresh, clean, and cool water and this is particularly necessary during hot days. During summer, excessive sweating or diarrhea can result in dehydration in horses.

When you notice that your horse is breathing more rapidly, hose his entire body down for 10 to 15 minutes. Naturally, horses cool down by sweating, however if your horse is not sweating, get him checked by your veterinarian as soon as possible.

Feeding:

It might be possible that your horse is not getting enough nutrition from grass alone and could require supplementary feeding to stay in good health.

Give your horse high quality hay roughage and a balanced pre-mix feed concentrates. In addition, give him vitamin and mineral supplemented food to help meet his nutritional requirements.

Livestock salt is also very important for the horses. Add a handful of livestock salt to his grain in order to increase his water intake. Salt or mineral blocks are not enough since they are good for cattle, but not for horses.

Shade:

Horses need access to shade when they begin getting too hot, or feel like a snooze after grazing out in the blazing sun. If there are no trees then you should provide them some sort of shelter. The higher the roof the better air circulation will be. However, you can even build a shelter having just a roof and no walls for better air flow.

Remember that your horse requires access to shade from dawn to sunset during summer. Also, frequently pick up dung from under trees or around the horse shelter to lessen annoying flies.

The Yorkshire Terrier, also known as Yorkie, is one of the most glamorous dogs. It has long silky coat and perky topknot, making it center of attention wherever he goes. Although the dog is small in size, however it always vigilant for adventure and can even creates a bit of trouble.

Yorkshire Terrier care includes maintenance of its well being and happiness. Since the dog has long coat, therefore the grooming of his coat on daily basis is one of the most important parts of Yorkie care.

Following are a few care tips to aid you in keeping your dog’s coat in best shape.

• Get an appropriate brush for your dog’s coat, in addition to a comb that will be used to get out any mats.
• Avoid brushing or combing your dog when its hair is dry as this will damage its hair. Always lightly spray its coat with water, a dog conditioner, or a mixture of the two.
• The most suitable brush for Yorkie care is a pin brush, having a rubber back. The good thing about this brush is that it is not only soft but also its pins easily penetrate the coat and the undercoat, making the grooming process easy. Never use any other brush, particularly those with small balls on the end of the bristles as these bristles can break off in Yorkie’s coat.
• The most suitable comb for Yorkie care is a sturdy metal comb with long teeth. Use this comb to work out any of the tangles or mats in your dog’s coat. In order to separate the mat without splitting dog’s hair, always use your fingers and the comb gently. If it is impossible to take out the mat then it is better to cut it out or cut out part of the knot.
• Use a fine toothed comb around Yorkie’s eyes in order to remove any of the tear stain and to gently comb its ears. Be very careful when combing around the dog’s eyes.
• After brushing, always finish off Yorkie’s coat grooming with a good combing.
• Remember to give your Yorkie a treat after every grooming.

Moreover, keep your dog’s coat clean by bathing your dog on a regular basis, i.e. once a month or once every two weeks. The daily coat grooming ensures that mats and knots are kept out of your Yorkie’s hair.

Dog flu is scientifically named as Canine Influenza (H3N8). It is a recently emerging extremely infectious airborne type virus that can result in contagious respiratory illness and infection in dogs with no exemption to breed or age. However, death rate is very low.

This virus can spread or transmitted to other nearby dogs by coughing or sneezing. Also, direct contact with contaminated surface or secretions from the nose is one of the main causes of its spreading.

Symptoms of dog flu may be seen after two to five days of exposure and infected dog can spread flue virus for seven to ten days.

Here are a few major symptoms of dog flu; however it is always better to get your dog properly checked by your vet for right diagnosis and proper treatment as dog flu symptoms are very much similar to kennel cough disease (Tracheobronchitis).

Symptoms of dog flu include:

• Cold
• Sneezing
• High fever over 105 degrees Fahrenheit
• Listlessness
• Rapid, shallow and difficulty breathing
• Runny eyes
• Loss of appetite
• Continuous coughing for more than a week
• Dehydration
• Loss of energy
• Yellow or green thick discharge from the nose
• Dry, hacking cough
• Gagging or choking like going to vomit after cough
• Extreme lethargy
• Secondary bacterial infection (Pneumonia)
• Depression

Although, many infected dogs make a full recovery within weeks however if left untreated, this disease can lead to pneumonia.

Once infected, the dogs need to be incubated for almost four weeks. Good and proper treatment of antibiotics helps them to gain their health, and proper diet helps them to gain their lost energy.

Hamsters as pets are great animals as they amuse their owners with their interesting and playful nature. However, it is important to have necessary information about how to take care of these small pets. Here is a hamster care guide that can help you in taking care of your pet animal.

General Care:

• Get the proper equipments, which include cage, bedding, nesting, water bottle, food, and toys.
• Give hamsters different kinds of foods as well as hamster mix and hamster treats that include fresh fruit and vegetables.
• Clean their cages weekly, preferably whenever needed.
• Get regular checkups with your vet.
• Handle your pet with care and wash your hands before and after handling it.

Housing:

The cages of hamster need to be roomy and safe. It is best to use fiberglass cages as hamsters can chew through materials constructed of plastic, wood, and soft metal. Their cage should be equipped with an exercise running wheel, nesting boxes, and tunnels for them to climb through. Put a deep pile of wood shavings for a comfortable place to nest and hide.

Their cages should be kept in a cool and shaded place. These small animals prefer to live in 40 to 70% humidity at 65 to 79 degrees Fahrenheit.

Feeding:

Hamsters should be given a regular diet, including commercially available rodent pellets, supplemented with occasional fruits and vegetables. In addition to this, different types of hamster treats can also be given to them that are sold by many pet stores. It is important to note that never feed sweets or milk to your pets as they will store the sweets in their mouth, leading to tooth decay.

Moreover, make sure that water is available to hamsters at all times, particularly during the summer season. Refill a hanging drops-style water dispenser with fresh water every two days.

Handling:

Hamsters that are handled frequently, starting when they are young, become quiet friendly animals. However, be careful! If your pet hamster feels he is being handled too rough, or if he is disturbed when resting or sleeping he can become violent. If he becomes aggressive, grab him by the skin on the back of his neck in order to move it back to his cage. It is better to use gloves when picking up your hamster.

Follow these general tips to pick up hamsters:

• First, cup your hands around the hamster and then press your palms against it.
• If you want to pick up on the back of the neck, cup your hand under its rump and use your thumb and index and middle fingers to grab the loose skin on the neck.

Pet rats are domesticated rats and are physiologically and psychologically different from wild rats. They even experience different health risks than their wild relative rats, resulting in less likeliness to succumb to the same illnesses as wild rats.

Following are some of the most important pet rat health care tips you should remember while owning the rats as pet.

• A wet nose of your pet rat is a clear sign of some kind of respiratory infection. Consult veterinarian for proper checkup.
• Mostly the beddings available in animal stores contain plenty of dust, which can cause your pet to have respiratory problems. Therefore, it is best to use bedding with as little dust as possible. You can strain the bedding through a strainer to remove some of the dust.
• Many stores have food and bedding that may contain living mites, moths, or other small bugs. Therefore, always examine food carefully before purchasing it.
• If your pet’s food and bedding contain bugs, you can either freeze or microwave them in order to kill the bugs.
• Never use Pine bedding in your rat’s cage.
• It is recommended to use shredded newspaper, paper towels, napkins, and blankets as dust free bedding.
• Cigarette or any kind of tobacco smoke can increase the possibility of the rats having respiratory problems.