Finding the pet food that will optimize your pet s health

It goes without saying that we all love our pets, and we want to ensure that they live long and healthy lives. We take them to the vet for their checkups and vaccinations, we spay and neuter them to help reduce the animal population, and we open our hearts and our homes to them. We also are subjected to a steady stream of pet food commercials, each company trying to convince us that their pet food is superior to the others. The unfortunate truth, though, is that not all pet food companies have your beloved animal's best interests at heart.

In fact, much of the dog/cat food on the market isn't nutrient dense; instead, it relies in large part on fillers and animal byproducts. Look closely at the list of ingredients for the pet food you have on hand. Even so-called premium brand pet foods have ingredients that will take you aback.

The first five ingredients listed usually make up the lion's share of the pet food. Leading cat food and dog food brands will include things like chicken by-product meal, corn grits, corn meal or corn gluten meal, and wheat flour or wheat gluten. An ideal diet for cats is one that's human grade. For example, cat food should contain a concentrated, high-quality protein source like chicken meal, ground brown rice, rice flour, chicken fat, and dried beet pulp. Dog food should contain the same ingredients, with the exception of substituting oat groats for rice flour.

The list of ingredients in your dog/cat food may be surprising, but it's also startling to see that even premium brands don't typically include ingredients that will sustain your pet's health and longevity.

What are some of these ingredients? For dogs and cats, nutritious food should include vegetables and fruits, which contain antioxidants, as well as fiber, vitamins, and phytonutrients. It should also include direct-fed microbials - the kinds of microbials that are found in yogurt that help maintain good health. Similarly, omega-3 fatty acids should be incorporated into a nutritious pet food, both because they support health and because they keep your pet's coat shiny.

When you contrast how we eat with how our pets eat, it becomes clear that the quality of their food is of paramount importance. After all, we eat a wide variety of foods, and can always supplement our diets with vitamins if we skip on the veggies or fruit. Our pets, on the other hand, eat the same food day in and day out for most of their lives, with a few added treats now and then; if there's a vital nutrient missing, they don't have the opportunity to consume it elsewhere.

Life's abundance is meant to be shared. Our pets give us so much unconditional love that the least we can do in return is provide them with human grade, nutritious pet food that will ensure that they enrich our lives for years to come.

Pet stairs

When we think of pets we don’t often consider the idea of stairs specially designed just for them. If you are the owner of a dog or a cat you may find yourself having to pick them up to set them on a chair so they can look out a window. With the use of pet stairs your animal will be able to comfortably move onto the furniture at their own convenience.

Animals can experience injuries just as human beings do. As dogs and cats age their joints can develop arthritis and they aren’t as mobile as they once were.

Without the use of pet stairs an animal will need to jump to get up on a piece of furniture. This can cause a neck or a back injury. Without the aid of vocalization you may not realize that your pet is in pain until the damage is permanent. When a dog or a cat sustains such an injury and it’s left untreated it can lead to serious complications including an inability to run and a permanent limp.

Pet stairs also prevent excessive stress on the bones or the joints of your animal. If a dog or a cat is overweight and they jump to get on and off the furniture that puts a great deal of pressure on the animal’s skeletal system.

With the use of pet stairs your animal can easily move up and down. You simply place the stairs in front of the item that you want the dog or cat to have access to and they’ll be able to utilize it immediately.

There are several different designs of pet stairs available. One of the most popular types of pet stairs is constructed with puppies in mind. When a dog is small it can be impossible for it to jump onto the furniture. This means the owner has to lift the dog up and down repeatedly. For most people this chore can become tiresome quickly.

With the use pet stairs, the puppy can then move on and off the furniture with ease. You simply choose the piece of furniture you want the puppy to have access to, be it a chair or a bed and allow the puppy to utilize the stairs. This also helps the animal gain a sense of independence and they will become familiar with that particular piece of furniture which means that they are more likely to migrate to it as a resting place as they mature.

Pet stairs are available in different sizes depending on the size of your pet. You’ll need to choose the pet stair that can accommodate the weight of your own dog or cat. They are made from high density foam that is covered with a fabric. Some pet stairs allow you to remove the fabric so that you can clean it. They are also available in a variety of colors so that they will complement the room you place them in.

Purchasing pet stairs is a wonderful way to ensure the continued health of your pet. You’ll no longer have to worry about them falling while jumping onto or off of the furniture.

Aquarium aeration basics

As we all know rivers and lakes are the natural habits for fish and other marine life. Rivers and lakes have large surface area which makes maximum provision of oxygen for fish survival possible. On the other hand an aquarium is not like river or lake, it has a smaller surface area and there is limited movement of habitats.

This makes the provision of alternative means of oxygen for fish to breathe important. This artificial process of providing oxygen is called aeration. It's a simple process of re-oxygenating the water in aquarium tank.

The Aquarium Aerating System:

An aquarium aerating aystem made up of a series of materials that increases the supply of air (thereby increasing oxygen concentration) they are:

-the air pump

-t-pieces

-rubber tubing

-clamp or regulator

-diffusers or airstone

Air pumps come in different shapes and sizes but the most popular ones are tecax air pump from Taiwan together with 'dyna free, and the dragon' another popular one is super 555 from India though cheaper, but not as rugged. Occasionally available are the more expensive whisper and rens air pumps from Uk and rance respectively. Always place air pumps above the water level hooked to a non-vibrating material.

You can accomplish aeration in your aquarium tank by using the above listed aeration materials.

For small tanks all you need is to attach a simple aquarium air pump to airstone by means of a rubber air tube. The system will be blowing air into the water which causes motion in aquarium tank and thus provide the necessary oxygen your fish needs to breathe in the aquarium.

Sometimes people complain that the airpumps are too loud. A tricks to keep the air pump quiet is to insulate it's vibrations by placing the air pump on a large sponge.

I have even heard of some people who have buried the pump in cat litter with a air tube running to the surface from the air inlet... but you don't have to go to that extent. A large sponge should do the trick.

Review of the purina second nature dog litter box system

I had previously raised two lhasa apso dogs who spent most of their lives living in high-rise condominiums. Instead of having to take them down an elevator to go outdoors to eliminate all the time, I trained them to use newspapers in a spare bathroom. Since they were both initially paper trained as puppies anyway, I chose to continue this method for them. Indoor newspapers worked quite well for the rest of their lives as my dogs were able to go to the bathroom whenever they needed to. The only problem is that the papers tended to get rather messy and smelly. If plastic liners were not placed underneath the papers, newsprint ink would be imprinted on the ceramic tiles of my spare bathroom floors. On some occasions, urine puddles would flow off the papers as well as the liner resulting in situations which required immediate cleaning since urine became trapped between the plastic liner and the floor. Despite these complications, I was relatively satisfied with the paper method for my little dogs.

After both of my dogs had passed away after long lives, I took a break as a dog owner for several years. When it was time to become dog owner again, I had made up my mind to train my new pair of lhasa apso puppies to use papers indoors as well. This time, it turned out that Purina had come out with a new litter box system called Second Nature designed for specifically for dogs. It was basically modeled after similar setups for cats but the dog litter consists of large pellets made up of recycled newsprint. Purina also introduced a litter box that has one side cut away lower to facilitate easy entry for dogs. I’m not totally convinced on the advantage of this particular feature since my lhasa apsos have no problems stepping into the box from the side. But for Purina to introduce such a system to the market, I must not have been the only dog owner who considered indoor elimination a better alternative to outdoors for smaller breeds. The product is now very popular especially among small dog owners living in apartments and high-rise condominiums without easy access to outdoors.

Purina recommends a slow transition from papers to their Second Nature system by placing newspapers over their dog litter at first. The company also suggests crate training at the same time but instead of taking the dogs outside, they are taken to the litter box. Newspapers are also placed all around the floor area of the litter box itself. My puppies needed some time to get use to the box so while they were being introduced to it, they were eliminating on both the newspapers on the floors as well as inside the litter box. Once they got use to the idea of going inside the box more often to eliminate, paper coverage on the surrounding floor area was gradually made smaller. When they started to use the litter box all the time, the newspapers on the floors were gone for good. The next step was for them to get use to the actual pellets of the litter. Since there were still newspapers covering the dog litter, the puppies were still technically using papers but at least they were getting accustomed to stepping on the pellets underneath. Papers inside the box were gradually reduced a bit at a time exposing more dog litter. Over a few weeks, the puppies gradually saw more dog litter than newspaper inside the box. Eventually, all newspapers were totally eliminated as my lhasa apsos finally got used to the box filled with litter only.

In my mind, the litter box system is less messy since all dog urine and feces stay inside the box. Actually the Second Nature pellets absorb urine much better than normal newspapers. The odd time, one of the puppies may get a bit lazy and have just the front paws inside the box while the hind legs are still outside resulting in urination on the floors. In these cases, the puppies have to be nudged a bit so that they are completely inside the box. This is part of their training. The only complication I observed with the pellets is that both puppies like to chew and eat them at times. Purina claims that ingestion of the pellets itself is not harmful to the dogs since they are just compressed papers. This will result in more feces production until the dogs can stop this habit. The dog litter is non-clumping so it will not get stuck inside the canine digestive system unlike normal clumping cat litter. It is considered unsafe to use clumping cat litter as a substitute for the Purina dog litter.

Purina Second Nature was launched only in the United States so as a Canadian resident, I had to go down to the U. S. to purchase the system. I started out with Purina’s cat and small animal litter called Yesterday’s News which is basically the same as Second Nature except the pellets are much smaller. But at least the Yesterday’s News pellets are non-clumping and therefore safe to use for dogs. Purina changed their Second Nature pellets to be around the same size as Yesterday’s News and many users including myself, found that my dogs ended up tracking the pellets all over the place. After speaking to a Purina spokesperson, I was informed that the Second Nature pellets will be made back in the original larger size soon. This will reduce the tracking significantly again. Purina will also introduce Second Nature in the original larger pellet size to the Canadian market. Naturally, this is good news for me and other owners of small dogs who would like to use an alternative to going outdoors for elimination, especially during cold bitter Canadian winters. I would definitely recommend the Purina Second Nature dog litter system to other small breed dog owners, especially when it returns to its original larger pellet size.