Pet Advice

How To Select Cat Toys
In the next few paragraphs, we will explore new ideas and thoughts that may help you achieve your goal and decide what is best for you when choosing toys for your cats. Toys for girl cats and boys: When the mouse is away, cats play. And cats have the tendency to both play hard and play soft. Toys are to cats the same as toys are to dogs. It helps fight the boredom experienced by these pets as well as gives our feline friends the opportunity to practice and use their natural inclination to chase and hunt for prey. It also gives the cat owner that great chance to play with their pets, an experience that will aid in bonding their relationship. But what toys are best for cats? The following are tips and helpful advice to get that perfect toy for the cat owners perfect pets. Play safe: The good thing about cats is that they can play ball inside the house and the owners will never know it. Still, there may be things inside the house that cats could find attractive yet might actually endanger their health and safety. Houses must be cat-friendly. As much as possible, take away any string, yarn, needles, rubber bands or other objects that could easily be swallowed by cats. These things could be lethal to cats. Do not let them play with these articles no matter how cute they may appear to be. Play soft: Choose soft toys that can easily be machine-washed. It is best that the toys chosen to be played with by cats are also the toys marked as safe to be played with by children below three years old. Toys such as these usually contain fillings that are not hazardous. Also, avoid giving cats toys that are hard and rigid, these types do not appeal to them that much. Know your cat, know their toy: It is best that one also familiarize themselves with your cat. Doing so helps in ones selection of the kind of plaything that best serves the size of ones cat - the kind of activity the cat likes and its unique preferences. Know the environment in which the cat likes to spend its time the most. Choose active toys: Toys that are great to play with for cats are usually the round plastic ones (such as rings from shower curtains, plastic balls, golf balls, balls used in ping-pong) as these give cats the opportunity to chase and paw around. They could also carry these in their mouths, make sure though that these are big enough they cannot be swallowed but not so large that they cannot carry them in their mouths. Choose active play: Balls can be placed inside bath tubs filled with water. Watch as cats frolic and play on and around the toy. It is just as enjoyable to the cat as it is fun for the cat owner. Another added feature that could be placed on balls are bells. One not only sees how cats play, one could also listen and take pleasure in the playful sound . Another simple yet effective plaything for cats is a paper bag. Use paper bags that do not have handles. These bags are good for pouncing around. Cats hide in them too. As much as possible, avoid the plastic ones as cats have the tendency to chew these and they may eat the plastic. This is not good. Toys with tails: Cats like playing with soft toy animals - specially the ones that have tails. They either bite them, paw them or chase these little stuffed toys around. It is best if these toys are as big or as small as the cats playing them. Toys with catnip: Catnip is sometimes used as stuffing for toys that are soft. Putting catnip in such playthings make the toys more enjoyable to carry, kick and throw around. More importantly, it is safe for cats to chew on, roll around in, or eat. It is okay for owners to place catnip on carpeted floors, or (to make clean-up easy) on towels. There are now catnip oils that can be placed on carpets, and they usually stay there. Cats detect these too. Although small cats, specifically kittens who are younger than six months have shown a certain kind of immunity to catnip. All in all, it is best that cat owners define what kind of toy should be played by their cats. It is advisable that different kinds of toys be given on certain days, and that displaying all toys simultaneously may not be a good idea. Cats can easily tire of seeing the same fluffy toy animal again and again. Variety always works best. However if cats show a certain liking to a specific toy, let them play with it, or sleep with it - whichever they like. In closing, it will benefit you to seek out other resources on this topic if you feel that you don?t yet have a firm understanding of the subject matter. Ken Charnely is webmaster at two of Internet's popular article directories. For more articles on this topic and for free content for your website visit <a href="http://www.articleteller.com/">ArticleTeller.com</a> and <a href="http://www.contentwow.com/">ContentWOW.com</a>
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Buying a New Puppy? How to Avoid the Pitfalls
Many books and articles have been written regarding the art of choosing a puppy (i.e. performing puppy tests, looking for parental OFA certifications, and so on…), but few, if any, discuss the contractual end of purchasing a puppy. I can tell you through personal experience that purchasing a quality show puppy from a famous breeder can be quite a stressful experience because no breeder would give up the pick of the litter to a competitor (for obvious reasons) or to a novice without co-ownership of the puppy. Co-ownership of a puppy entitles the breeder to many rights to the detriment of the buyer. To begin with, the breeder might also be an experienced handler and might contractually require the purchaser to use the breeder as the puppies’ trainer and handler. Agreeing to this could be a monumental mistake because the purchaser might be required to pay (even though they might be co-owners) for the breeders time to train and handle the puppy. Agreeing to this can COST you THOUSANDS of dollars. In the contract, the breeder might require your bitch/dog to whelp/stud puppies. And, of course, they would contractually want the picks of the litter (they may choose either male or a female puppies as they please). Furthermore, you as the purchaser, might be required to pay the costs of breeding and whelping the puppies (i.e. food, vet-bills, housing, AKC registrations, stud fees, breeder’s time) even though you may not be allowed to get the picks of the litter. What’s more, you may not be able to see nor be with your dog for the duration of gestation and delivery. Some breeders have been known to switch animals when they are sent away for whelping or stud service. Therefore, I would recommend that you microchip you puppy and that you get an AKC DNA ID as soon as possible after you purchase your puppy. This way, you will get back your beloved animal without concern as to the nature of its identity. When you purchase your puppy, most reputable breeders will guarantee that your puppy will be free of various ailments for the duration of two years. What they may fail to mention, however, is that if your puppy becomes incurably ill, the replacement puppy may be one of their own choosing and not yours; which translates to the fact that you may end up with a new puppy that has a lousy temperament. So, remember. The devil is in the fine print. Read your contract carefully, otherwise you may become the victim of your own ignorance. Visit me at: http://www.newdogtrainingsecrets.comArmen T. Ghazarians offers advice and articles for all those interested in training their dogs like the professionals. His website http://www.newdogtrainingsecrets.com offers information regarding many aspects of <a title="professional dog training" href="http://newdogtrainingsecrets.com/">professional dog training</a> for anyone who is not a professional dog trainer.
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