Dog toys provide important and essential mental stimulation for your dog. They also help your puppy learn significant behaviours such as sharing and allowing you to take toys from them without them showing aggression. This is important for when your dog picks up something that he is not allowed or is dangerous to him as it will allow you to take it from him.

Toys are also good for separation issues. If your dog is going to be left on their own then interactive toys can be left which encourage your dog to play with them to gain a reward. They help to keep your dog occupied and therefore reduce unwanted separation behaviours.

Dog treats are great for training your puppy. Most dogs respond very well to treats and can therefore help your dog to learn desired behaviours quickly as they gain a reward for doing so.

However it is important to remember that feeding your dog lots of treats can lead to unwanted weight gain, therefore limit the amount of treats you use daily for training and perhaps cut the treats into smaller pieces so more training can be conducted each day.

Also be sure to feed your puppy treats designed for this stage to ensure the size and textures of them are suitable for your puppy’s small jaw and their milk teeth.

by Mark Kenny

Finally what dog food you buy needs important consideration. You need to ensure that the food you feed is complete and therefore provides all of the nutrition your dog requires.

Remember that puppies will require a food designed for this life stage which caters for their higher energy requirement to prevent weight loss and aid their fast growth rate at this time.

It is better to feed puppies smaller but more frequent meals during the day as their stomachs are very small and can therefore only contain so much. This ensures that your puppy still receives the required amount of food daily.
Finally always follow the recommended feeding guideline to ensure your puppy is receiving the correct amount of food.

Good luck!

While scratching is one of the most obvious signs that your pet might have fleas, lack of scratching doesn’t necessarily mean that it doesn’t. Some pets are allergic to flea bites, so they react very strongly almost immediately after they pick up new fleas. Other pets hardly notice them. Learning how your pet responds to flea bites and being vigilant around Spring time can help you spot fleas as early as possible before they spread to the rest of your home.

by Caro Spark

Although fleas are very small, it’s possible that you might be able to see them with the naked eye if you look closely at your pet’s skin. Lift up patches of fur to check for evidence of fleas underneath or choose a flea comb for a thorough check of the fur. Check for tiny dark insects that resemble sesame seeds. You will usually find them quickly scurrying across the top of the skin. If you don’t see any live fleas, you can try looking for their faeces, which usually resemble small black spots that are around the size of poppy seeds. Bald patches and scabs are also common warning signs that are associated with pet fleas. Because pets will often scratch or bite the areas where they feel flea bites, they can injure their skin or cause patches of fur to fall out.

If you are sure that your pet has fleas, act quickly to prevent them from spreading to your home and to give your pet some relief from itching and general discomfort. There are a few different ways you can treat fleas effectively. The first thing you should do is give your pet a bath using a high-quality flea shampoo. That should cause most of the fleas to fall off of your pet’s fur and die. After the bath, use a flea comb to brush your pet’s fur and check for any remaining fleas. If you act quickly, they can be killed before they get a chance to jump to another area. Once your pet is flea-free, keep it that way by treating its fur with Pfizer Stronghold Spot On Solution For Dogs And Cats or by using a flea collar.

Don’t stop at treating your pet alone. Pet fleas can spread to the environment around them, so you need to disinfect your home before you finish your treatment. One of the best ways to clean your home and at the same time protect it from future flea invasions is by using Ceva Acclaim Household Flea Spray. This not only kill fleas and flea larvae on impact, but can help keep your home clean for a year after the first treatment date.

Sony has always known to enrich our lives and by introducing Animalia line, it has shows that it feels for the animals in our life too. Let us see what they have in store.

Sony K9 4K TV

For example, Sony K9 4K TV is a great entertainment source for a pet dog. It makes use of blue and yellow tones minus the red and green so as to make it easier for the dogs to enjoy complete 4K resolution of their favorite content with a sharp and clear display. The TV is easy to used and handle. One can fix it to their baskets and your dog can easily manage it with an easy to use remote control with just 2 buttons, one for Skype and other for play. This is a good way to interact with your owner if you are missing him or her.

Sony In-Cage Speakers

Hamsters can now make better use of the small space of their enclosures with the help of In-Cage Speakers that can release energetic music with just a small tap. The capsule-sided speakers keep the hamsters in good mood.

Sony M3-OW Kitty Cans

For the felines in your home, there is Sony M3-OW KittyCans with adjustable headphones and ActiveLight technology, facilitating cats to imagine that they are listening to music. They can pick from a range of playlists just perfect for the cats that the owners can download from Music Unlimited. These headphones are designed to suit different cats with different personalities.

Unfortunately this is often the case when a horse develops a gastric ulcer, and because a horse will show minimal outward signs of discomfort it’s all too easy to not realise your horse has an ulcer which needs treating. However, unlike a mere stomach ache, gastric ulcers can have potentially fatal consequences for a horse or foal.

by Wikimedia Commons

Identifying the Symptoms of a Gastric Ulcer

There’s only one way to definitively diagnose a gastric ulcer in a horse, and that’s to have a vet perform a gastric endoscopy. But to know whether or not to call the vet, you should keep on the lookout for the following symptoms:

• A change in your horse’s attitude or behaviour.
• Poor condition of your horse’s coat or body.
• If your horse has less of an appetite than usual, especially if this has resulted in weight loss.

Foals are particularly at risk of gastric ulcers and may show additional symptoms, which include grinding their teeth and excessive salivation, among other things. If you suspect that your foal has a gastric ulcer you should have them seen by a veterinarian straight away, as foals are at higher risk of developing fatal ulcers due to the delicate nature of their stomach lining.

Treating and Preventing Gastric Ulcers in Horses

Gastric ulcers can be very easily treated by a vet, with medicines which reduce the production of stomach acid, buffer its effects or stop it from coming into contact with the stomach lining. However despite the ease at which a horse can be treated for gastric ulcers, ulcer prevention is not as simple and requires dedication and perseverance on the part of the owner to reduce the risk of their horse developing another ulcer.

This may include increasing the amount of roughage in your horse’s diet, reducing the amount of grain in their diet by replacing it with horse digestion supplements, or putting your horse out to pasture more often. Prevention is always better than cure, so follow these simple steps and your healthy horse will be a happy horse.

The Harm of ‘Stabling’ a Horse

Horses are naturally resilient creatures that are able to acclimatise quickly to their surroundings. They are also able to generate a lot of internal heat, providing they are given adequate nutrition. So many people who choose to stable their horses over winter because of the cold are actually doing their horses a disservice, by depriving them of much needed activity for no real reason. Horses who do require a bit more help keeping warm could benefit from a rug or throw, some of which are designed to keep a horse warm in extremely low temperatures (of the sort which would never be experienced in the UK).

by Jessicastjohn

Another worry of letting your horse roam around outside in winter is the damage it might sustain to its tendons, however it is suspected that many injuries sustained in this way are primarily due to an existing weakness. However if in doubt, check with your vet before letting your horse out in winter.

The main concern about stabling horses over winter is the boredom which may arise as a result of the horse not being able to indulge in its usual activities. Horses which are stabled for too long, or too frequently, often become unmanageable. If you find that you absolutely must stable your horse it should be in a space which is large enough to accommodate its day-to-day needs.

Finding the Right Stable for Your Horse

Stabling a horse over winter may not be the optimal choice but every now and then it becomes a necessity, at least for a short amount of time. In this situation it is absolutely vital that you have a good stable for your horse to live in, which is fully tailored to meet its needs. Vale Stables offers a full range of internal stables and mobile field shelters designed to meet the needs of all horses and horse owners, from summer to winter and everything in between.

by Calvin Merry

Companionship

Perhaps the main benefit of owning a dog or any pet is companionship. Elderly people can often become lonely – especially if living on their own – and a dog gives them company at all times of the day. What’s even better is pets provide unconditional love which helps to boost morale and keep spirits up.

Interaction

Another benefit of owning a dog is the opportunity it gives elderly people to interact with others. Dogs need regular exercise and the simple act of walking your dog in the morning can give you the chance to meet new people and pass the time of day. Even trips to the veterinary clinic for regular health checks can help get elderly people out of the house and encourage them to socialise in their local communities.

Mobility

As mentioned above, dogs need regular exercise and that means their owners get a daily dose too! For the elderly, high impact sports and strenuous fitness regimes are not always possible and instead low impact, gentle activities are needed. Dog walking is the perfect example of this and by taking their hound for a daily walk, elderly owners will ensure their own fitness stays on track.

Like humans, dogs also face mobility issues as they get older and this means daily exercise routines can become mutually beneficial arrangements for the pet and owner. Arthritis and other conditions can appear at old age in both dogs and humans but it’s estimated that 35% of the country’s dogs may be overweight and that makes increasing mobility even more important.

For the owners, these health risks are just as prevalent and a little gentle exercise walking a dog can help to keep joints supple. This could reduce the pain and discomfort when ascending stairs in the same way a stairlift does, for example.

Less waste

A lot of pet owners give their dogs leftover food scraps to bulk out their meals and that means owning a dog could mean elderly individuals waste less food. Of course, dogs need to eat the right food to get all the nutrients they need and this could encourage elderly individuals to eat healthy food too. By sticking to a healthier diet, elderly individuals could improve their own health – giving them more energy and a new lease for life.

Prevention and Treatment of a Horse’s Allergies

Figuring out the cause of your horse’s allergies can sometimes be as simple as looking at their symptoms; however more often than not your vet will want to conduct a thorough blood test. In the meantime you should start eliminating parts of your horse’s environment, including bedding and food, to find out if your horse’s allergy has been caused by something close to home.

by Matt Bargar

Horse allergies are usually developed as a response to something in their environment and there are a great many horse allergy triggers to be aware of, such as dust, grass proteins and sometimes even hay. Washing your horse’s bedding or replacing it with paper, shavings or rubber can help prevent some equine allergies. Washing your horse’s food can also help to remove organisms which cause allergic reactions in horses – often the reason why a horse might seem to be allergic to something like hay when in fact they are not at all.

Most horse allergies can be treated with fresh air, a clean environment and careful monitoring of potential allergy triggers. However more severe reactions – such as heaves – will require medical treatment by a trained veterinarian.

Resources for Owners of Allergic Horses

The best treatment for a horse’s allergies is avoidance; however this is sometimes easier said than done. There are many resources available for horse owners who are finding it difficult to cope with owning a horse with allergies, including information, forums and veterinary advice boards. In addition, horse owners are also able to shop online for high quality stables and horse sheds, such as can be found at Vale Horse Stables. A good quality horse stable is essential for keeping a horse which suffers from allergies, as there may be times when your horse isn’t able to go outside. In this case, a well ventilated, warm, comfortable stable will keep your horse happy until it is able to play outside again.

The Dangers of a Collar

by lirena

Collars need to be quite fitted, as your cat will be able to get a leg through, and either take it off or get stuck, causing injury. Make sure there isn’t any elastic inserts as the collar will be able to stretch and the same problem will occur. However, if the collar is too tight, if it were to get caught on something, the cat would not be able to escape. Kittens’ collars need to be checked regularly as they are still growing, and it could cause problems if they get too big for their collar.

Snap open collars are the best style of collar as they have a plastic buckle that close the collar, and will release under pressure if the cat gets caught. You can also buy reflective collars to help cats getting spotted (by small animals and cars) in the dark.

Designs

There are a wide range of different designs of collars you can go for, as well as tags and bells. However, if you have attachments on your collar, make sure that they really need to be there. Cats can get their claws caught in the bell, and become immobilised, perhaps in an unwelcome situation. Bells that you want there to scare birds away must have a good sound.

There are many cute cat collars out there to choose from, from daisy chains and hearts to paw prints and mice. And you don’t have to sacrifice pattern for safety as there are collars that have cute designs as well as being made from durable materials and snap open buckles.

Tags are another way to personalise your cat’s collar. As well obviously being able to have their name on, tags can be different colours and shapes and can also have designs on too, like a cat design or a fish.

Flea Collars

Flea collars are not the best way to tackle fleas. There are much more effective ways to get rid of fleas, products from the vets are best, and they can also cause skin reactions and hair loss, if not regularly checked.

Which Fish?

by Nomad Thru Life… AWAY untill The New Year

Koi Carp- Popular fish, there are 13 different types of breeds to choose from. They like to be at an optimum temperature between 15-25 degrees and don’t survive for long periods of time in the cold. If you want to keep carp, then you may have to install a heater in the pond to keep the temperature stable. They like to eat most water plants, so there are only a few plants that can be put in with Koi Carp.

Goldfish- Also a type of carp, they are more robust than their Koi cousins and can survive most temperatures. They come in many different breeds, though not all are suitable for pond life- especially in British garden ponds. They thrive well in water with high oxygen content. To achieve this in your pond you could install a water feature like a fountain, or an air pump.

Rudd- These are a plainer fish, and are surface feeding. They have an upturned mouth for eating from the surface of the water, which also helps to keep it clean.

Equipment

Some pond equipment is essential for the general upkeep of your pond and overall health of your fish.

• Pond pumps – these help keep the water moving in your pond, through water features, filters and sterilisers.
• Air pumps- these are essential for oxygenation for fish and plants, restrict the growth of algae.
• Filters – helping to remove dirt for fish and plants, filters are generally used if you have an excess of grime in your pond.
• UV Steriliser – this makes algae form clumps and make the filter more effective.

Feeding

Fish food will make sure your fish are healthy and happy. Different mixes are available for different fish and the seasons, to make sure your fishes’ needs are catered for. All Pond fish food is available from all good stores.

1. Ants

Running like clockwork it’s no wonder ants are on the list. Their factory like structure is constantly alive with each ant allocated specific duties aimed at keeping everything running as smoothly as possible.

2. Beavers

These little guys never seem to stop; they build their incredible dams with ingenuity and dexterity that is arguably one of the greatest displays of craftsmanship in the animal kingdom.

3. Lionesses

Talk about girl power, while dad stays at home these hard working mums take to the savannah in search of prey to feed their hungry broods. Stalking up on prey they make the majority of their kills under the cover of darkness, bringing home a meal fresh from the bush.

4. African Wild Dogs

These amazing hunters are possibly the best relay team in the world. A team of wild dogs work together to get their prey: once the front runners of a chase tire they are relieved of their position by other wild dogs with more fuel left in the tank. They go on these epic relay races at least twice a day so they really have to work for their food.

5. Earthworms

These slimy fellows might lead you to believe they’re good for nothing but it couldn’t be further from the truth. Without their help some of the world’s richest soil simply wouldn’t be, well, so rich. By tunnelling through the earth earthworms create passageways that allow water and air to get into the soil and keep it nice and fresh.