Pleasing 4 Pets

No, I didn’t think so. Neither do cats.

There are so many bowls for cat food on the market that are rectangular or stretched oval shape, split into two compartments. One of these is for food, the other for water. How often do you see a rogue biscuit, or meaty chunk in the water? What do you do? Pick it out and throw it away? Tip the water out, wash the bowl and re-fill? Or just leave it until they decide to eat it?

I don’t know about you, but I think I might change my glass of whine if a bit of my gravy covered roast beef fell into it. I think, in fact, that I wouldn’t like it at all. I don’t even think I’d like it if my glass of water had been stood next to smelly food all day, as it picks up scents and flavours of what’s around it. Never had cheesy milk?

Put their water around the corner from their food; on the other side of the room, or just a few feet away. They’ll be far more likely to drink it, and will be healthier for it too. It’ll also prevent that horrible slimy gunk that forms on the water side of their bowl when you go to wash it. Nasty.

Many of us absolutely adore our feline friends and their weird and wonderful habits. Some will enjoy sitting on your lap only at the most inconvenient times, others will not be picked up or cuddled no matter how gently or politely you do so.

One of the funniest things that one of my cats does is chase his tail. Now, that may not seem so strange, but the funniest bit is when he launches himself, all four paws off the ground to pounce on his own back end. Again, this may not seem so bizarre. His problem is eye contact, or even perceived attention. If he thinks that anyone – human, feline, fish or canine – is watching, he will stop and clean himself (but always keeping an eye on that pesky tail). No matter what he’s playing with, if he thinks you’re watching, he gets all bashful and embarrassed.

This could be because he is the only male out of our four cats, and so usually he’s the Boss, the big man, the one who gets the cream (metaphorically, of course). He may feel that ‘playing’ is beneath him. Either that or he’s just a bit mental. I think I prefer the latter.

Cat hair has crafty ways of sticking around. If you have a chair that your prize kitty likes to sit on, you’ll have noticed that it gets thick with fur.

Also, you’ll notice that if your cat is on the sofa next to you, and you give them a bit of a stroke, you can see swathes of fur flying about in the air. The cats don’t like it if their ‘released’ fur falls back onto them (especially their faces) so if generally drops onto the floor or your clothes.

Hoovering is the best way of getting cat hair from carpets and upholstery, and a lint brush or roller is by far the most effective way of removing fur from clothes. Some will have been intertwined with the fabric so you’ll have to manually pick them out, but putting them in the wash will not get rid of them, but rather cover other clothes with hair and exacerbate the problem.

Getting a puppy is an exciting time for the whole family. You’ll have years and years with a beloved companion who will become one of the family.

There are plenty of considerations to make, and one of these is the breed of dog.

Here is a list of different typical characteristics of different breeds of dog. Make sure you have a think about this before you buying one ‘just because it’s cute’.

• Playful / disinterested in toys and games
• Friendly to other animals (including cats / intolerant of any ‘competition’
• Friendly with humans / reserved or maybe hostile with strangers
• Energetic and lively / cuddly and gentle
• Affectionate / aloof

Do your research and even talk to some dog breeders to see which breed would suit you and your family. Remember that some dogs – like beagles – require at least 3 walks a day, so make sure you have the time and energy to commit to getting a dog.

If, like many amateur tropical fish owners, you feed your fish once a day with store bought tropical fish flakes, you need to be very careful to not overfeed them.

We all panic about underfeeding our pets, as we do not want them to become undernourished and, therefore, ill or even die. However, you are more likely to damage your fish’s health by overfeeding them.

If there is too much food, it will break down in the water and become harmful to the fish. It will clog up the pump and filter, and will lead to more dark green scum all over the tank. You can always give them a second small feeding if necessary, but it is very tricky to remove excess fish.

A general rule is to only feed as much as will be completely consumed in three minutes. Stick with that and your fish should be healthy and happy.

Before you really consider buying a snake, there are plenty of things to think about. Here’s a nice long list for you, I won’t bother trying to pad it out or make it wordy. Just make sure you have a serious think about each one of these points, maybe even write down the answers.

• Why do I want a snake?
• Do I know what type I want?
• How big is it going to get?
• What size vivarium will it need as a hatchling, and at full size?
• What does it eat?
• Where will i store its food?
• How long will it live?
• What temperature does its vivarium need to be?
• Who will look after it if I’m away?
• Where’s my nearest reptile vet?
• Can you cope with killing smaller animals (rodents, worms, crickets) to feed your snake?

There are plenty of other considerations, but just bear in mind – a snake is not a simple pet to look after. They need constant care and attention and their habitat needs to have shade, water, constant heat and humidity and needs to be cleaned very often. Don’t buy a snake before you’ve thought all this through. It’s not fair on the poor thing.

Yep, that’s right – you either love them or you hate them. Very few people I know would say ‘I don’t mind snakes’ but if you want to prove me wrong, go ahead, give it your best shot.

Having a pet snake is something that fascinated me since I was tiny; our primary school had a communal pet snake – a read and black corn snake, that we got to hold on to from as young as 5.
One big thing to bear in mind is that they are not really like other domestic pets (cats, dogs, rabbits). They are closer to fish in that they will spend most of their time in their vivarium, to be looked at and fed. Many species of snake are happy enough to be handled, but they will not like being cuddled like a kitten.

Corn snakes are by far the most common species of pet snake, and that is for very good reason. They are pretty docile, don’t grow to a huge size, and they come in all sorts of colours.
I love snakes. Can you tell?

Fleas are the bane of any cat owner’s existence. They bite, they spread, they get into the carpets, beds and even clothes. If you don’t get rid of them early on, it will be pretty difficult to do as they live in the carpet.

At least fleas can’t live on humans. Our blood is too rich for them, so even though they bite us they can’t use our flesh to live. Good to know.
Flea collars are one way of helping to protec
t your beloved feline from them, but their effectiveness does want after a relatively short while.

Spot-On flea treatment and house flea spray are probably the best way to keep them away. Use the Spot-On every month or two and spray your carpets at least every six months.
Hopefully that’ll keep the pesky pets at bay.

Most people try to find a new puppy or kitten from someone they know whose pet has a litter. But there are hundreds of animals in shelters who have nowhere to go and need to be looked after.

Although most people would far prefer to bring up an animal from youth, there are older pets who have been abandoned, or whose owners have died and they need homes just as much as the young ones. In fact, the older animals are usually left longer, so are likely to feel even less loved.

There are so many animals abandoned at the side of the road, or just thrown out when their owners get sick of them or can’t afford to look after them any more, that it is actually really selfish to not get a pet from a local shelter.

So, if you’re looking for a new pet – give your local animal shelter a call. You can give a lonely animal a home, and help out the shelter at the same time.

Ever come downstairs in the morning to find a pile of cat vomit on the carpet? Do your cats bully each other to get to the food? Do they try to trip you up whenever you’re in the kitchen, constantly getting under your feet?

They have as much food as is recommended, but they are sick because of how much they eat. A good old catch 22.

Often, the reason cats are sick isn’t because they are eating too much, but that they are eating too quickly. If there are more than two cats, they may feel that their food is threatened, so will eat it quickly before anyone else gets chance to.

Or, if they are fed at irregular intervals, they may feel they don’t know when the next batch of food is going to be there, so they scoff it all down as quickly as they can.

One solution (which worked for a good friend’s two cats, and for my four cats) is to leave a full bowl of biscuits down at all times. That way, if they’re hungry, they can eat. Put down meat once (or twice) a day at set times, and they may eat what they want and go back to it later.

You may find yourself throwing away bits of dried meat in the bottom of bowls more often than before, but I can guarantee that’s better than scooping up half-digested biscuits.