it is not to be forgotten that when a put falls down and breaks a leg it is just as painful as when a human does the same. This can be done from anything from falling down the stairs to a simple fall in the garden. But what can you do when this actually happens when you are not with a private animal hospital? The answer is really not much and this is why they are so essential for your pet to be a member of.

One of the plus sides to actually being a member of one of these animal surgery places is that if something worse happens like your animal happens to have its leg needed to be removed they actually have blood transfusions available for pets now so they will not lose any blood if they are hit by a car or something like that and have to have a limb removed.

It is also true to say that many smaller animals have thier limbs removed too and can carry on with a perfectly normal life. Wheelie the tortoise is perhaps a fine example of this as she has to have three of her limbs removed and was then fitted with a set of wheels. Before she did not want to mate at all due to the pain but since the operation she has become happier and has started mating.

A cast is a lot better than putting the animal down surely which is why going to a vet when your animal starts to limp could be just a bit of old age arthritis or something more sinister like bone cancer. Bone cancer is a very painful thing for a dog or other animal to have and if you suspect something it is far better to have it amputated than to make the animal suffer in any way.

So if it’s a broken leg or even a heart problem a vet will either treat it with a cast or using pet’s cardiology and make your pet feel that much better!

One of the amazing hidden ’secrets’ of this century is xylitol. It is truly astonishing on two points. This five carbon sugar can help to prevent both tooth decay and gingival disease because the bacteria that eat it cannot utilize xylitol as they can glucose (six carbon table sugar). 

The second fact to know about xylitol is that it has been both well known in one country and almost unheard of in many other countries at the same time. This astounds me a bit because it demonstrates the limited nature of our human awareness very clearly.

Let’s explore further. Xylitol has been used and well documented to reduce the incidence of dental disease in Finland for over five decades now.  Yet here in the United States and many other countries you will hardly hear of a dentist that promotes it. There are a few, but they are not many.

How can something as beneficial as xylitol, in today’s world, be so unknown to most people despite the fact that Finlanders have been using it since the second world war when regular sugar became scarce.  Later, the dentists and doctors of Finland discovered that their levels of dental health improved due to the use of xylitol as a substitue for sugar. Another product worthy of renewed discovery is the
oral irrigator.

Xylitol has 1/3 the calories of an equivalent amount of table sugar. It does not promote tooth decay or the growth of the bacteria that cause gum disease or stale breath. It does not require insulin to be metabolized and therefore is of special interest to diabetics. 

Few things in this world are perfect and xylitol does have some drawbacks. Pets really should not be given xylitol. While a human being has a special metabolic pathway to digest xylitol, many pets do not. Therefore it can be toxic to pets and can even kill them.

You can learn more about xylitol at Xylitol.org. There is plenty of research and information about xylitol there. Ora-md is different in that it is an essential oil mix for helping to fight dental disease.

We tend to think that if something is good, that everyone should know about it.  Yet, as this example shows, that is not always the case. There are so many things we still do not know.  Perhaps we should resolve to reach further beyond our limited awareness and discover the truth of this world and the universe that is around us.

Author: David S.

Disclaimer: This article is for information purposes only and does not intend to provide advice on any health condition nor does it intend to provide diagnosis or treatment. If you have a health problem, or think that you might have one, visit your doctor for advice diagnosis and treatment.  The USFDA has not evaluated statements about products in this article.

Have you been thinking o buying a pet for the home recently? What is best for you and why?

You certainly need to consider whether there are kids involved or not. It is best not to get a pet if you have kids on the way as sometimes the animal can get jealous of the attention it has lost and the child has gained so if this is the case wait until your child is a bit older.

A dog is a great pet to have for a family. If you are thinking of getting a dog then it would certainly be wise to get one of the bigger breeds like a Golden Retriever or German Shepherd as they are not only very friendly, family dogs they will also help to guard the home when you are out or asleep as their barks can be very fierce. Be careful as in the case of a German Shepherd they are not very friendly towards anyone outside of the immediate family but get used to any guests you have so do not worry they are not as horrible as they sound or look in those police videos you see.

If you are not in a big family then it is wise to get a smaller breed of dog.

If you do not like dogs then maybe a cat is what you need. They are not the best of animals to have if you have a family as they arent really interested in people much of the time and rarely have time for a game with the kids.

If you are not liking the sounds of any of these pets then maybe a rabbit, hamster or even a goldfish would be better for you. If someone is out or you live alone they can provide company.

Of course you do not want to forget the care that the pet will need once you have it. Join an animal hospital so that the animal surgery within it can help your pet if it has an accident or suffers from health problems. Some of these can even do pet’s cardiology which can even involve fitting a pacemaker into your pet.

For most parents, if they wanted to give a pet to their kids, they would instantly think about small animals. Sometimes, they would think about getting a small dog but there are other people who think that a dog is not an ideal pet for a small kid. What they wanted is even smaller and all they could think of is a guinea pig. Well, this kind of animal sounds a cool pet. As a caring parent, you want something that is preferred by and for your children, right, especially when it comes to choosing pets? So, a pet guinea pig would be a great recommendation.

However, because for the reason that this kind of specie is so tiny and so delicate, you also need to teach yourself some guinea pig care so that it can be happy and healthy. All you need to do is go through the Internet and find a book guide that will teach you how to care for little guys like Guinea pigs. Actually, right now, there are lots of book guides that can teach people how to care for guinea pigs and some of them are even in the form of video-audio software so that you can visually understand how to care for guinea pigs and even learn how to teach them tricks. Yes, little guinea pigs are also trainable just like the way people will train a dog.

Now, with so many learning tools out there, you will really be dazed on what to choose. Perhaps, the best way to do this is to read first some guinea pig pets book guide reviews so you will have the idea on what to get & use so you can better teach yourself how to care and train for these little cuties. You also have to bear in mind that your little ones would also want to take part in the whole ritual of learning so you better find a learning tool that will allow them to do the same.

As in any pet care, the wild origins dictate a lot of what is important in Guinea Pig care. The guinea pig is a species of rodent sometimes known as the Cacy. They are not in fact pigs, as their name would have suggested.  They come from the moutains of South America, and studies have shown they have been breed from closely related species such as Cavia aperea, C. fulgida, or C. tschudii, so therefore do not exist as a wild species.
The guinea pig plays an important role in both the folk culture of many Indigenous South American tribes and more importantly as a food source (how could they?). Guinea Pigs were domesticated 5000 years ago for nourishment and have appeared in many folk stories and are repeatedly used in metaphors.
The guinea pig came to Europe in the 16th century by traders and since then has seen common status as a family pet.  Originally they were seen as an mysterious pet and even Queen Elisabeth I had one. The metaphor “guinea pig” comes from their use in biological testing from the 17th century.
They are very docile easy to care for and are easy to handle and feed and are therefore popular with pet sitters. They are timid explorers and rarely attempt to escape. Guinea pigs will often whistle when interested, for example when they hear food being prepared or the owner comes near.
There are many breeds of domesticated guinea pigs, which vary in color and hair differences. The most common breeds are the shorthair (or American shorthair), the Abyssinian whose coat is ruffled. More particular long hair types include the Peruvian and the Sheltie (or Silkie) and the curly long hair Texel.

So should I choose a Guinea Pig?

They are very friendly animals – so require time for fuss, otherwise they will feel lonesome and this might lead to stress and sickness. This could be important if you are buying one for children, on the basis that the kids will care for the guinea pig. Noting they typically live for around four, but may live as long as 8 years and the Guinness Book of Records has the record age for a guinea pig at 14 years.
Guinea pigs are particularly large for rodents, weighing between 700 and 1200g (1.5-2.5 pounds), and measuring between 20 and 25 cm (8–10 inches) in length. Which means that you need to have more space for the cage. Though as a robust pet, this could be located in a shed or a protected corner outside. They will deal with cold better than excessive heat. Avoid wire mesh floored crates, as this can hurt their feet and potentially lead to infection.
As for many animals you should not put two males together as they will fight  together when they become mature at about 6 months for leadership. Females can however be grouped together. Obviously you do not want to add a male to the group as they breed very easily.

They are grass eaters, which they digest with the help of their long colon. Hay is an alternative to the grass in a domestic situation. Like humans they cannot synthesise vitamin C and will need to attain this through their diet, otherwise scurvy will kill them. Scurvy is often identified by sluggishness.  So feed them regularly fresh, raw fruits and vegetables (such as cabbage, broccoli, apple, carrot, celery, and spinach). Another option is through dietary vitamins. They are fussy eaters when mature, so with a young guinea pig give a wide variety of foods. They like to eat continuously, so ensure there is hay in their cage for them to eat.
Guinea pigs, as well as scurvy, can also suffer from respiratory tract infections, diarrhea,  abscesses due to infection (often in the neck, due to hay embedded in the throat, or from external scratches), and infections by lice, mites or fungus.

They are active throughout the day and will sleep on and off, waking for some activity. Guinea pigs regularly groom themselves and will groom others.

Portable chicken coop designs are perfect when you have just a few hens that you want to move around your yard. Also known as chicken tractors, these little coops have a small area for roosting, eating, drinking, laying eggs and foraging. Since the coop is moved every few days to a week, your chickens are getting plenty of grass and bugs to supplement their diet.

You may wonder why you would want a portable chicken coop design. Moving the chickens around keeps them safe and secure while giving them new foraging grounds. They can be moved about the yard to eat grass, bugs and add their droppings to your yard for fertilizer. You can even move some of them onto garden areas at the end of the season so your chickens can glean anything leftover from harvest. They will fertilize your garden. The droppings will decompose over the winter which can also be used as fertilizers for your garden soil that will allow more luscious products for you. In less than a week, with chicken that are not moved around, your backyard can be surprisingly reduced to bare earth. Then, it becomes a muddy every time it rains, and your chickens don’t get all that nutritious greenery to eat.

The ark is an example of the chicken coop design that can be portable. This is an A-frame that is triangular pen with wide base at the bottom and peak at the top. The ark can be made small or large. The only thing that should limit you for size is whether you can move it or not. The ark is made so a third of it is the coop and the other two-thirds is an outdoor run. The coop should hold nest boxes and perches. A small opening lets the chickens out into the run. A bigger door placed on the opposite side of the coop allows you to easily access the coop to collect eggs, feed the chickens or clean the coop. The chicken run has a door at the end so you can easily access. Arks can be moved by attaching long poles so two people can lift and move it, or they can be hooked up to a vehicle and towed.

Another A-frame type portable chicken coop design has the coop in the top third of the A-frame and the chicken run beneath it. The coop provides shade this way, and the chickens are able to sleep up off the ground in a protected area. It will be easier for you to clean the coop and collect eggs if there are small doors at each end. These coops are generally built to house two to four hens and are moved by hand.

Small portable chicken coop designs can also be imaginative. Build a chicken coop that has wheels for easy moving and so it can be moved even with a single person.

You can make portable runs out of wire or PVC. You can even use a dog house as the coop itself with a few modifications to make it easy to access for egg gathering and cleaning.