Pet Care Tips - Basic Advice on Keeping Your Pet Healthy and Happy

Follow these pet care tips to ensure that your dog or cat is kept happy and healthy. These basic tips are intended as a resource for those of you who are new to pet ownership or are thinking of getting your first cat or dog. Experienced pet owners will know most of these details already!

Food and drink

Cat Dog Pet

* Make sure that your pet has access to clean, fresh water. Change this every day.
* Feed cats twice a day with a premium quality cat food. Give them one meal of dry food and one meal of tinned food. Do not feed them dog food or milk.
* Feed dogs once or twice daily, but use premium quality dog food. Make sure they have a mix of dry biscuits and moist tinned food.
* Feed puppies and kittens on small amounts of soft food 3 to 5 times a day until their teeth are strong enough for dried food.

Pet Care Tips - Basic Advice on Keeping Your Pet Healthy and Happy

Treatments

* Give your pet a daily natural supplement to help boost his/her immune system. This can help to stave off many common minor illnesses.
* Give your pet an anti-parasite supplement periodically. The dangers of worms are not to be underestimated.
* Use a natural health solution to keep fleas, ticks and mosquitoes off your dog.

Training

* It is critical to train your dog. Obedient dogs won't soil your house, bite, jump up on guests, chew your shoes and ruin the couch. They are more hygienic and less likely to be involved in fights and accidents. Once trained, you can give your dog much greater freedom as you know that he/she can be trusted.
* Cats should be toilet trained as soon as possible and taught that a scratching post is the only allowed place for them to sharpen their claws.

Exercise and play

* Dogs need to be exercised every day without fail. Ideally twice a day. Letting him run round the back yard on his own doesn't count. Enjoy the time that you spend walking with your pet and it's good exercise for you too!
* Cats kept indoors at any time need a litter tray and this needs to be changed daily. Cats will exercise themselves sufficiently if you let them outside each day. Better still, fit a cat flap and allow them to choose when they go out. But keep them inside from dusk till dawn. This makes them less likely to be run over and they pose less danger to other small animals.
* Keep an eye on your pet's weight and attitude to food. If he's getting overweight, then you need to cut down on the food a little and get him some more exercise. If he's off his food entirely, then there may be an underlying health problem that needs attention.
* Make sure that your pet has a few toys to play with. Dogs love rubber bones or balls to chew and squeaky toys too. Cats love scratching towers, toy mice and string.
* Take time to get to know your pet. When you really get to know your pet's character and physical appearance, you will find that you can quickly spot any injuries and illnesses that are developing.

Grooming

* Grooming is important for all dogs and cats. Long haired cats need to be groomed more often than short haired breeds, but you should groom shorter haired ones too. Dogs and cats both like to be stroked. It is a good bonding exercise that also lets you examine your pet's hair and skin for any problems.
* Dogs need to be bathed periodically and use a special dog shampoo for this purpose as many human shampoos or shower gels will irritate. Once every two months is about right. Their skin can become irritated with bathing too often. Cats clean themselves so don't try to bathe your cat!

Reproductive

* Spay/neuter your animal. Neutered animals are better behaved and don't contribute to the countless thousands of homeless cats and dogs. Dogs and cats that have not been neutered will be at the beck and call of their hormones. They will roam far and wide looking for a mate and are more likely to get into road accidents and fights.

Pet Care Tips - Basic Advice on Keeping Your Pet Healthy and Happy

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Original article at Pet Care Tips.

Keeping a Pet - The Pros and Cons

Pets are loved by everyone for many reasons; no matter what breed of animal you own, they can bring happiness to lives. However, when you are thinking of getting a pet for the first time, whether it's as a new addition to your current family of pets or a replacement for one that sadly is no longer amongst you, there is a lot to consider when keeping a pet.

People have pets for various reasons, whether given as a present (remember, they are not just for Christmas!) or perhaps the children are interested in having their first pet; or you were perhaps unable to have a pet as a child but are in more suitable circumstances or simply because you and they share a love for animals, the notion to need and want a pet is deep-rooted in our psyche. This is perhaps not surprising considering pets act as great companions, providing company for people from all walks of life.

Pet

Pets can provide excellent social opportunities for both adults and children, with the ability to improve your exercise routine, depending on the type of pet you own. They also provide opportunities to meet new people and begin new hobbies, should you have a pet you can walk around the park or enter competitions with. In that respect, some pets are easier to look after than others, and depending on your circumstances, such as type of accommodation and location you live in, this could be an important factor as not all rented accommodation allows pets; so the type of pet you choose to have may also relate to your situation.

Although pets can bring lots of happiness to lives, it also not too surprising to discover how much responsibility they are to keep, as in some respects they are not too dissimilar to looking after a child in that they have needs to consider too. If you are planning to go on holiday and it is not feasible to take your pet with you, it is always a good idea to find someone suitable to look after your pet. This may not always be an ideal situation, expecting others to look after your pet, whilst kennels can be a costly option should your pet be a dog.

There are further factors to take into consideration when deciding to keep a pet, with probably the most popular deciding factor for many being cost. They are expensive, particularly given the expense of purchasing food, and also those accessories to allow them to have an enjoyable level of living, these including shelter and toys to keep them entertained.

When deciding to keep an animal, pet insurance can help reduce any stress surrounding potential veterinary expenses, having the ability to cover your pet's health through insurance, whilst also attending to any specific needs they require such as ongoing treatments and medication.

Despite there being many pros and cons to consider with keeping a pet, the levels of enjoyment and companionship afforded by pets are often worth every penny we lavish on them. After all, money can't buy you love and pets give it freely.

Keeping a Pet - The Pros and Cons

Isla Campbell writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.

Keeping Your Cat Fit With a Cat Exercise Wheel

Obesity is a problem with many cats these days. This is especially a problem for cats who stay indoors all the time and don't have a chance to exercise that often. If a cat has the opportunity to eat as much as it wants whenever it wants to this also can add to the problem. The best way to deal with obesity is to prevent it in the first place. One way to do this is to get your cat to exercise more often through the use of cat toys. One cat toy that is particularly useful for this is the cat exercise wheel.

This Wheel is just what it sounds like. It looks like an extra large version of the exercise wheels used by hamsters and other small animals. They are usually made of metal and measure between 36 and 48 inches in diameter. The one side of the wheel is open so the cat can get into the Cat Exercise Wheel and the other side is either solid or spokes depending on the manufacturer. The wheels with spokes also have a clear plastic piece you can put on that side if you are worried the cat would get hurt by the spokes.

Cat

The Wheel was created originally for use by Bengal cats, but any cat can use this type of exercise wheel. Most cats seem to like running on the wheel, but some are a bit unsure of it at first and might need to be coached on how to use it. There are a variety of videos on the internet of cats using a Cat Exercise Wheel if you are interested in seeing how these work and whether or not the cats appear to enjoy them.

If your cat is already obese, it could still benefit from the use of a Cat Exercise Wheel. Usually it is recommended that an owner try to help an obese cat slowly lose about 20 percent of it's weight through diet and exercise changes. A Cat Exercise Wheel is a great way to get your cat to exercise without having to constantly have to coax them with a cat toy. Just be careful not to try to force the cat to lose too much weight too quickly, as this can put the cat at risk for liver disease and other health problems. Slow weight loss is also the most likely to last, as is the case with people.

Keeping Your Cat Fit With a Cat Exercise Wheel

Trevor Kassulke owns and operates http://www.catcareguidance.com

Cat Exercise Wheel