Pet | Raining Cats and Dogs

Pets and Rehab

A pet is supposed to be a best friend, but they are rarely treated as such when an owner is suffering from an addiction. When we ponder the depth and reach of addiction, we commonly don’t stop to think about the silent parties that are affected the most by the actions of an addict. In many cases, it is the pet that suffers when living with an addict. If there were a way to communicate with these pets, it could be known just how much neglect, abuse, and mistreatment they truly suffer.

Often, the abuse of a pet is not considered when comes to an addict, only the people the addict harms are thought of. However, each year a significant amount of pets are abandoned or even neglected to the point of death due to the improper care they receive at the hands of an addict. For example, there are many pet owners who are diligent when it comes to feeding and taking care of their pet, but when the addiction takes hold, so does neglect and all care comes to a halt. Pet owners who are addicts also go on binges and leave the pet on their own for days at a time. Subsequently, pets become underweight and malnourished. Pets also suffer by being exposed to unsanitary environments.

If you know someone who is affecting their pet in a negative way because of their addiction, then it is your duty to confront them and try to offer assistance. Getting them to treatment program through the use of a website like Rehab-International.org can help you to find the very best care facility possible. You can also find many places that care for pets as well as the owners and help to start integrating pet care into the treatment immediately. Help is a must, especially when a pet is involved.

Filed Under: Pets Tagged With: Animal, Pet, Pet insurance, Recreation

Finding Money to pay for Your Pet’s Treatment

Your pet is as much a part of your family as your kids are. They are there for you when you’re sad or sick, and help you feel better. So when they get sick, it’s your turn to be there for them. But what happens when their illness is severe enough to need expensive care and treatment from the vet? How do you pay for your furry companion’s medical bills when you are barely making ends meet?

The first thing you’ll want to do when faced with this situation is talk to your vet. If you have a long-term relationship with the vet’s office, you may be able to work out some kind of payment arrangement to pay for your pet’s treatments. Some vet offices will do this for you, especially if you’ve been going to them for several years. You could set up a payment plan that calls for you to pay a monthly amount towards your bill, until your account is paid off.

If your vet’s office is unable or unwilling to set up payments with you, there are other places you can get the money you need to take care of your pet’s illness. You could try to borrow the money from family or a friend. They may be able to loan you the money with a guarantee that you’ll pay them back over time, as much as you would have paid the vet’s office back.

Another idea is a cash advance business, such as PayDayOne.com. They can set up a loan with you based on your income, and allow you to set payments up to repay your loan based on your needs. You can either pay the loan back in one lump sum when you receive your paycheck, or refinance the loan up to four times, and just pay the interest and fees due on it.

You can find a way to take care of your pet’s medical needs.

Filed Under: Pets Tagged With: Loan, Payment, Pet, Veterinarian

Missing Friend – What to Do When a Pet Runs Away

If you’ve ever had a pet run away, you know how anxious and worried everyone can get – especially if it’s a pet you and your family love. Some pets have natural homing abilities, but others can become disoriented if they find themselves in an unfamiliar place.

If your pet is lost, there are a few things you can do to bring your pet safely back home. The important thing is not to worry or panic – it won’t get Felix or Fido home any faster. Imagine that your cat or dog is enjoying his citywide sojourn, which is usually the case.

The first and most obvious thing to do is look. Look in the obvious places: nooks and crannies in your own home, your own yard, and your own neighborhood. Put flyers up at intersections around the block. When pets wander, they usually don’t wander far.

However, if a day goes by without any reports, bring your campaign into Phase II and go public. Announce the search using your real-life and technological social networks, such as Facebook and Craigslist. Bikes, cars and other stolen merchandise have been recovered by the use of social networks – the same goes for pets. Let your friends and their friends know your pet’s last whereabouts, supply photographs, and let the community machine go to work.

Social networks are the new ‘telephone pole flyers,’ but it never hurts to put the word on the streets as well. Put together a ‘missing’ flyer – provide a description, a number and a possible reward. If you love your pet, the amount you’d give to have it back should be immeasurable.

If Phase I and Phase II don’t work, sometimes you just have to wait and let your pet engage its natural homing abilities. Most pets find their way back, but it never hurts to enlist outside help. As the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy says – don’t panic.

Filed Under: Pets Tagged With: Craigslist, Facebook, Pet, Recreation

Partially Cooked Meats Instead

Partially cooked meats for a dog seem to be the healthiest option you can give your pet. In fact, their digestive enzymes seem to be able to tolerate this type of food better than the high protein, by-product filled alternative. Dogs are carnivorous canines, and their little instincts tell them that meat is good. That is why they are willing to chase the cat, they are essentially hunting their dinner.

There are those that say chicken with the bone in is a bad idea for dogs because the bone can splinter and hurt their intestinal track. Did you know that partially cooked chicken with the bone in is actually considered healthy for your pet? That is right. The reason for this is that dogs are carnivorous and their bodies are naturally designed for raw or partially raw foods. Things that would make you sicker than, well, a dog, makes Fido one happy camper. Think about this, when you feed a dog just simple dry dog food that is processed and full of preservatives and filler, you find that you pup is a little more ripe than at other times. With half cooked meats you will not have this problem. Their bodies are simply intended to be able to handle foods handled this way. Many are thinking that cannot be serious, but if you think about it, there are tons of animals that are living on the streets that are able to survive living out of dumpsters full of raw, rotten, half-cooked foods. If we as people ate that way we would not last that long. Dogs however thrive on a low carb half raw diet. This is one of the best things, other than regular exercise, that you can do for your pet. You will notice a difference in they way they respond and feel almost right away.

Filed Under: Pets Tagged With: Cooking, food, Meat, Pet

Natural Food

There are many natural foods available to help your pet maintain a healthy diet. In fact, it has been proven that feeding your dog dry naturally cooked foods, without preservatives can help your dog live a long and healthy life. This would include foods that do not have any type of by-products such as fillers of oatmeal or flour. Dogs need high protein, and these fillers are providing weight gaining carbohydrates. Which can translate to a much shortened life span. Dogs have very particular needs, and sometimes with the more inexpensive foods, these internal needs are not being met. In fact, some of these foods can cause other issues like problems with teeth, bones, and digestive tracks. If you find your dog is a little more stinky than normal, there is a high probability that it is the food your are providing.

When considering different types of foods for your pet, look at the bag, not just the pictures. The pictures are always going to depict the perfect combination of food for your pet. What you want to look at is how much of the food is horse meat, how much is fillers. Is the food dried naturally or baked? These are important factors in considering what food is best for you furry best friend. The choice in food that you make could mean years of enjoyment with your pet, or years of costly veterinarian visits because your dog is simply not getting the proper nutrition. The largest contributor to the health issues is the weight of your pet. If you pet is too heavy for their size, it can take years off of their life. Have a food with too many filler can help your pet gain unnecessary weight. It is better to spend a little more on a natural food that contains real beef, chicken, or pork, and real vegetables.

Filed Under: Pets Tagged With: Diet (nutrition), food, Natural Food, Pet

Is The Breeding Good?

When choosing a pet, many owners want to make sure that the one they choose is a healthy reproduction of the parents. When purchasing an animal from a breeder, many people want to see the parents of the pup, calf, or kitten that they are considering purchasing. Depending on the reason for the purchase, as they may intend to breed the animal themselves, most just want to get an idea of temperament so that they can see what to expect when the animal they are looking at is fully mature.

This aspect of looking at the breeding is especially important because if there is a flaw in the breeding, it could mean that the animal will have health issues, personality issues like aggression, or not be eligible for being papered with the qualifying organization. The best example for this is with dogs. AKC is the qualifying organization that verifies blood lines in dogs, in order to verify the purity of their bloodline. If a dog has flaws in their breeding, and they are physically obvious, AKC will not paper those animals, as they can certify that the animal could pass down a clean reproduction.

Breeding flaws are exhibited in many different ways. Some of them include the fur, breathing, feet, hips, and personality. If the fur is splotchy, or has color patterns that should not be present, for instance, white on the paws when the pure bred certification claims all black. Breathing is a big part of the breeding. This is because many breeds develop cleft palate, which is when the sinus cavity is open to the mouth, and the animal has a difficult time eating and breathing. The other issue with breathing is a sinus cavity that is too closed. If you are interested in a certain animal, and the breeder is claiming it is pure bred, ask to see the papers on the parents. This will confirm things if you are unsure.

Filed Under: Pets Tagged With: American Kennel Club, Breeding, Dog breed, Pet

Pet Care: Things to Think About

: Image via Wikipedia

Pet care can be very high maintenance and therefore should not be taken lightly. Taking care of a pet is similar to taking care of a child. You need to provide food and water, you need to let the animal go to the bathroom, you need to take it out for exercise and most importantly you need to give them love, attention and affection in large amounts. These are essential pet care routines that need to be done. Here is a look at some other pet care options.

Food is an essential part of pet care. The type of food you provide for your pet is one of the most important things you will do. There are many types of food for all different kinds of animals. So make sure that you do your research and get the right type of food. It will all depend upon what your animal needs and any pet owner should consult their local vet for more information on right types of food for their pet.

Exercise is another essential part of pet care and should be given to your pet regularly. It is important to keep your pets heart and lungs health and that is exactly what exercise provides. There is not a need for your pet to go running around like crazy throughout the house but you do need to take them for walks, give them play exercises and other types of exercise needs.

Taking care of a pet is a lot of responsibility. It is something that should be thought of before you consider taking the pet in. You are responsible for a lot of essential elements that will keep your pet alive. Many pet owners do not consider the high amount of maintenance that it takes to keep a pet and many pets end up on the streets in a short period of time because the pet owner did not think about the amount of care that they need.

Filed Under: Care, Pets Tagged With: Animal, Pet, Physical exercise

Benefits of Pet Insurance

: Image by thisiscow via Flickr

Do you know the importance of health insurance for yourself and your family? What about the benefits of pet insurance for your cat or dog? There are a number of unique benefits associated with purchasing this type of insurance that you absolutely must consider if your pet is as much a part of your family as anyone else.

Benefit #1: Most pet insurance programs are going to provide you with free or very low-cost preventative care and basic care. Many come with a free spay or neuter if you have a pet that has not yet been fixed as well. Basic checkups and wellness visits are free or almost completely covered by pet insurance plans.

Benefit #2: Most pet insurance programs are going to drastically cut the costs for medical visits if your pet becomes sick or injured. Vet bills can become very high very quickly, but the protection that a pet insurance plan provides is going to cut these costs down substantially, allowing you to get through this financial emergency without having to stress. When your pet is sick, you should be thinking about getting it well rather than stressing over your financial ability to deal with the issue.

Benefit #3: Most pet insurance programs offer discounts if you enroll multiple pets. Pay full price for the first dog or cat and the second will be covered at a discounted rate. This is reason enough to make sure that you enroll all of your pets in this vital protection.

Benefit #4: Most pet insurance programs allow you to pay for the entire annual premium all at once, so you can pay off the insurance program for the year and spend the rest of the year with some much needed peace of mind, knowing that you have health care protection for your companion animals in case they should happen to need it.

Filed Under: Pets Tagged With: Insurance, Pet, Pet insurance

Choosing a Pet

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The decision to take on a new pet is a big one. It may be made on impulse, but the results can be far reaching and influence many different parts of your life. Pets can add a lot of fun, love, and companionship to your home, but they are require a good amount of responsibility. If you are planning to get a pet, you should be fully aware of what it will take to raise them well. Pets have a lot of love to offer, and they deserve a happy home in return.

If you are unsure of what type of pet you want, consider whether you’d prefer to have an indoor or outdoor pet. Outdoor pets consist primarily of dogs, though sometimes people keep other more unconventional pets like ducks or goats outside. Outdoor pets provide a companion for outdoor activities. They also tend to be somewhat self sustaining, as they don’t have to be housebroken and usually don’t require constant attention. Noise is less of an issue, although it still can be a concern.

For indoor pets, you have a few considerations. Do you want a free roaming pet or a caged animal? If caged, do you want something that stays in its cage all the time, or a pet that comes out and plays from time to time? Birds can make good caged companions, as can small rodents like gerbils, hamsters, and guinea pigs. All of them can be taken from the cage to play. Other indoor pets like inside dogs and cats roam freely around the house. They need to be housebroken so you don’t have to clean up behind them. Dogs will need to be trained to keep quiet and not go places they shouldn’t, while cats should be encouraged not to scratch things. Your level of commitment to adjusting a pet to your home will affect how well suited you are to an indoor pet.

Filed Under: Pets Tagged With: Guinea pig, Pet, Recreation

Sometimes You Just Want an Alternative Pet: The Bird

: Image via Wikipedia

Birds make fun and unique pets. They can be very affectionate, friendly, and fun. They can also be extremely independent if given the opportunity to be. Birds may not be as popular as more conventional pets like cats and dogs, but they have their own unique charms. Whether singing, perching, or even speaking like people do, birds make for a great pet experience that can’t be duplicated with any other animal.

If you’ve decided to add a pet bird to your family, your decision making isn’t done yet. There are a great number of differences between different types of birds. Many birds are capable of speaking, while others cannot. Some birds are more social and want or need to be let out of their cages often, while others are more at home staying in the cage. Larger birds tend to be greater responsibility, and they also ten to have much longer life spans. Some breeds of parrot have been known to live for around 100 years. Even smaller birds like parakeets can outlive dogs and cats. Consider the level of commitment you are willing to make to a pet before you buy one.

Birds will require different amounts and types of attention, depending on the type of bird you choose. Birds like canaries and finches are low maintenance pets. They don’t require much other than to be fed and watered regularly. They can just sit there and look pretty. Parrakeets like to fly around and sit on shoulders. They’re small and mild mannered enough to play with easily. Parrots, especially the larger ones, need space, exercise, and attention frequently. Many birds in the parrot family also have special dietary needs, so you need to make sure those are met as well. Birds will be harder to “housebreak” than other animals, if you can even manage, so keep that in mind as well.

Filed Under: Pets Tagged With: Bird, Pet, Recreation