There Are 5 DIY Tips To Help You Save On Pet Care Expenses

It is a tough time with the economy and spending for pet care is now considered as a luxury. You can save big bucks by following some practical tips that can cut your spending on pet care.

Here are 5 DIY and practical tips to help pet owners in tight budget save on pet care expenses:

1. Visit your pet's vet regularly – Visiting your vet once or twice a year for your pets check up can actually save you from further expenses. By having your pets checked up regularly you can prevent serious illness like heart problems, joint pains and diabetes. Treatments and cures for serious diseases like heart ailments and diabetes are expensive that is why it is much more practical to have a regular visit to the vets than going to the vets when major illness arises.

2. Keep your pets away from accidents – Keeping your pets indoors like your cats and putting your dog on a leash when walking outdoors can save you from expenses in treatment from accidents. Letting your pets out without supervision can lead to poisoning and road accidents, these types of accidents require medications and sometimes lifetime treatment especially for road accidents.

3. Keep your pets healthy – Proper diet to your pets will save you lots of money from going to the vets for sickness like diarrhea, allergies and heart problems. We should be careful when giving left over foods or table foods to our pets for it may contain some ingredients that are considered toxins to some pets. Garlic are bad for cats for they contain chemicals that are toxic to them and chocolates can cause hypertension to dogs so be careful from tossing snack foods to your pets.

4. Do it yourself grooming – You can do some basic grooming like trimming the nails and the furs and you can get some useful guides from manuals and tutorials in the net. There are also youtube videos about properly and safely grooming your pets like bathing, brushing the fur and teeth.

5. Shop wisely – Pet maintenance can be expensive too like pet foods, collars and toys. You can actually save by comparing pet foods and reading the label – some dog foods have the same nutrients but differs in price. You can also save by buying bulk and also be careful with the brands for some pet foods uses low quality ingredients and loads it up with sugar so that your dogs and cats will like it. You can also try shopping in the net and use coupon codes to get discounts.

The Meaning Of The Noises That Chinchillas Make

It is obvious that animals don't really talk, but they know how to communicate with each other. There is something strange about the way same animals look at each other that they immediately got the state of mind of their fellow. Animals communicate to other mammals through noises; and the sounds they make may sometimes help to grab attention from their owner. Both cats and dogs have different ways to communicate with their owners; dogs bark if they sense a threat and cats meow if they need to be fed NOW. Through actions, pets were able to express their affection. It is simply the sounds that you should be wary of.
Chinchillas are not your typical pet but it is ideal that you recognize what noises they make and what emotions are attached to them. Noise such as grunting is the most common sound which chinchilla are used to making. This might be the only "normal" sound they can create on an ordinary day. Here are a few chinchilla noises, both usual and unusual.

Grunts: Chinchillas often make this sound in many different ways  to express their special feelings.For example, for chinchilla to grab the attention and affection of their owner, they tend to make a series of grunts. A chinchilla grunt is quite similar to a cat's purring noise or a high pitched half-squeal half-whisper that a dog makes every time it is trying to say ‘sorry'. If a chinchilla makes a hoarser grunt it may be because he wants to call the attention of its owner, another pet chinchilla or other pets and animals in the vicinity.
Shrill: A shrill will be made if a chinchilla feel frightened or bullied. They can either make a series of shrills or they can just throw in one big burst. In the wild, chinchillas alert their fellow "chins" about an incoming predator by making this noise. Chinchillas inside the cage may make this sound if they find a different animal coming near to them; especially if the approaching animal is a big threat to them. This sound can be likened to a hiss that a cat makes when it is in a do-or-die situation. If you hear your chinchillas shrilling, you don't have to wait another time to come for their rescue – no matter what the reason is.
Chattering Teeth: This does not simply say that you need to get the teeth of your little pet trimmed. When a chinchilla feels so annoyed and upset, they tend to create this noise. Like for example, a chinchilla trying to steal his fellow's food; their responses will create such noise. This is usually observed if chinchillas are living in the same cage. Chinchillas have a sense of privacy, and violation of their privacy can be the main reason of this noise.
Other chinchilla noises need not to be described. For instance, if a chinchilla is in trouble or in pain, they have the tendency of making a series of loud squeaks. Chinchillas will make a different grunt once it is picked up by an outsider; signifying that he doesn't like it. Most owners find these noises annoying; so if you hear your chinchillas making these noises, better leave them alone for a moment.

A Group Of Meerkats Is Called A Mob, Gang Or Clan

Meerkats are small mammals and members of the mongoose family. They live in all parts of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana and South Africa.
A group of meerkats is called a mob, gang or clan. A meerkat clan often contains about 20 meerkats, but some super-families have 50 or more members.

They are very social and like to reinforce their bonds by regularly grooming other gang members.

Meerkats at adulthood will grow to a standing height of 12 inches (30 centimeters) and weigh around 2 lbs. (750-820 grams). A pregnant female will weigh around 2.8 lb. (1.1 kilos). Their legs are short and their bodies are long and thin. Their tails are also long and thin with a dark tip. The reason for the dark tip is to identify other gang members while foraging for food. Meerkats forage for food with their tails in an upright position enabling them to easily identify their fellow gang members. Meerkats reach sexual maturity at 10 months and adulthood at 11 months. Both males and females share similar physical traits such as short hair and gray or tan markings.

The markings on their backs are unique and no two are the same. They have dark brown or black bands around their eyes. Their ears are tipped with black or dark brown. They have dark bands on their sides and back. Their faces and throat are predominately a shade of white. There are four digits on each foot with very sharp non-retractile claws which are curved. They use their claws to dig their burrows. Meerkats also have the unique ability to close their ears, this is to keep dirt out while they burrow, which they do quite often.

Meerkat groups utilize several different burrows and move from one to another. Each burrow is an extensive tunnel-and-room system that remains cool even under the broiling African sun. Females give birth to two to four young each year in one of the group's burrows. Fathers and siblings help to raise meerkat young, teaching them to play and forage and alerting them to the ever present danger from above. Young meerkats are so fearful of predatory birds that even airplanes will send them diving for cover.

An important daily activity for meerkats is searching or foraging for food, which means that they require large open spaces and plenty of physical activity. CAPS has investigated meerkat breeders and dealers in the UK and found poor conditions, such as a small enclosure in a pet shop and a cage in the hallway of a private home (see video below).

A private dealer visited by CAPS investigators kept an adult pair in a conservatory with a tiled floor and no access to outdoors. Babies were removed early to ensure the female bred again and at just 5 ½ weeks old were being sold for £600 each.

In the wild, pups begin to travel with the group on foraging bouts at 4 weeks of age, and for the first three months are fed by the helpers, whilst also being taught how to catch their own food. Early separation in captivity between mother and young can lead to behavioural problems for the pups later on.

Ring-Tailed Lemurs Have Powerful Scent Glands

Lemurs are primates found only on the African island of Madagascar and some tiny neighboring islands. Because of its geographic isolation, Madagascar is home to many amazing animals found nowhere else on Earth. Lemurs may have floated there eons ago on "rafts" of vegetation and evolved in isolation over countless centuries.
　　
All lemur species today are endangered due to the rapid destruction of their forest habitat for agricultural development, cattle grazing, and human settlement.
　　

They, like their primate cousinsize="3"s the monkeys and apes, have binocular forward vision, but must turn their heads to see ahead because their eyes have limited movement in the socket. This gives them a wide-eyed, staring aspect that sometimes startles viewers.
　　
The word Lemur comes from old Latin, and refers to ghosts or spirits. The staring eyes, haunting sounds, and nocturnal ways of the lemur inspired early observers to think of them as ghosts or forest spirits.
　　
The Ring-tailed lemur's coat is black gray, the limbs and belly lighter, and the extremities white. Their are rings about the eyes, the muzzle is black, the tail is banded black and white.
　　
The only place where members of the Superfamily Lemuroidea, including ring-tailed lemurs, can be found in the wild is Madagascar. Situated to the southeast of Africa and separated from the continent by the 800 km-wide (497 mi) Mozambique Channel, the island of Madagascar is in the Indian Ocean and is the fourth largest island in the world (Swindler 2002). Ring-tailed lemurs are restricted to the south and southwestern portion of the island, reaching a northern limit near the town of Morondava on the west coast and the town of Ambalavao in the east. The southeastern limit is the town of Tolagnaro on the southern coast (Mittermeier et al. 1994; Jolly 2003). Ring-tailed lemurs are found in the vicinity of nine forests: Andohahela, Andringitra, Ankilitelo, Berenty, Beza Mahafaly, Isalo, Tsimanampetsotsa, Tsirave, and Zombitse (Godfrey et al. 1998).
　　
Ring-tailed lemurs have also been introduced to the United States on St. Catherine's Island, Georgia as part of a project to establish a free-ranging, breeding population that could be studied and in the future could potentially serve as a source to restock parks in Madagascar (Iaderosa & Lessnau 1995).
　　
Most field studies of ring-tailed lemurs have been conducted at Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve and Berenty Private Reserve, a family-owned forest set aside in the 1940s (Sauther et al. 1999). They have also been studied at Andringitra National Park, Isalo National Park, and Andohahela Nature Reserve (Mittermeier et al. 1994). One particularly notable field researcher, Alison Jolly, has been conducting long-term ecological and behavioral research on ring-tailed lemurs at Berenty since the early 1960s and has contributed greatly to the knowledge of wild ring-tailed lemurs.

Long-term studies have also been ongoing at Beza Mahafaly most notably conducted by Robert Sussman, Lisa Gould, and Michelle Sauther. Captive research has been conducted at the Duke University Primate Center in North Carolina since the mid-1980s and also has provided invaluable information about the species (Sauther et al. 1999).
　　
Research on competition for resources between Verreaux's sifaka and ring-tailed lemurs reveals that there is little direct competition for food, even during the dry season when resources are limited. Though they naturally have overlapping ranges in other parts of Madagascar, at Berenty Private Reserve, brown lemurs were introduced in 1975 and they now compete with ring-tailed lemurs for access to food. The two species have high dietary overlap at Berenty and likely compete for similar foods during times of scarcity.
　　They communicate with short grunting sounds as a contact call within the troop, sometimes followed with a quick bark.

Hamsters Are Often A Child’s First Pets

Hamsters are generally nocturnal animals, although in the wild they often become active shortly before dusk. They usually sleep during the daytime, and in the wild construct deep, dark, underground burrows for this purpose. They are extremely good diggers and for such a small and fairly rotund animal, can be very active. There are several different breeds and varieties of hamster, varying in size and temperament. Typically, hamsters live for up to 2 years, although some may live for longer.

Hamsters are often a child’s first pet, principally because they are small, charming animals with a great deal of character. However, their needs are actually very complex and they can be easily injured by incautious handling.

Each hamster has their own personality and preferences, but the general principles of care are common to most species. They need a warm, safe environment and should be kept indoors rather than outdoors.

There are many commercial hamster foods available. Purchase a good quality fortified diet which does not have too many fatty sunflower seeds. Hamsters tend to gobble these down and leave the healthier foods. They also will also sometimes move the seeds around to “caches” within the cage, so don’t always assume that everything was eaten. Supplement your hamster’s diet with small quantities of nutritious fresh foods daily like broccoli, carrots, apple and other fruits and vegetables. Wash the foods well but don’t peel them. Be careful not to feed too much fresh food or your pet can get a stomach ache or diarrhea.

Provide fresh water daily. Wash the water bottle right out, don’t just fill it.

Provide something for your hamster to gnaw on, like a clean twig from an apple tree or commercial wood gnaws for rodents.

Hamsters are solitary animals and only come together for mating. Golden hamsters have to be separated after mating, otherwise the female may kill the male. The gestation period of the common hamster is 19-20 days and is 15 days for the Golden. They will have 4-12 babies at a time. Hamster babies are called hamster pups. A mother hamster is very maternal, and, if danger threatens, she will carry her babies away, either by putting them into her cheek pouches or laying them across the toothless area of her jaws. Hamster pups should not be touched for the first two weeks as the scent it leaves on the babies can confuse the mother causing her to abandon or even eat them as she mistakes them for someone elses babies. The babies are so tiny that you can also accidently hurt them. By the time they are two weeks old their eyes are open and they have a thick coat of fur. Mother hamsters wean their babies at about 3-4 weeks of age and the babies should be separated from the mother shortly after that. A female hamster is capable of having 2-3 litters a year.

There is a wide variety of cages and housing used for hamsters. Common caging used are 10-gallon tanks, Habitrails, stainless steel, and wire cages (some having multiple levels, with a plastic cat litter pan bottom for easy cleaning). Habitrail are fun for the hamsters. You can attach plastic see through tubes and tunnels making a great home for the hamster to roam. However keep in mind the more attachments you use the more you will have to clean. Cages should at least be 20 square inches of floor area per hamster, and a cage height of at least 6 inches. Since hamsters like to sleep during the day and are up all night you may want to keep the hamster cage in a livingroom or den rather than a bedroom so the night time noise is not bothersome.

A wood or plastic house should be provided for the hamster to burrow in. The cage should have solid floors and relatively deep bedding. Plenty of nesting material should always be provided. Toilet paper and paper towel tubes are great things to put into the cage for them to chew on and make their nest. Small cardboard boxes are also great. Common beddings used are toilet paper, shredded paper, processed corn cob, CareFRESH, Sani-chips, Gentle Touch and wood chips. Cotton or shredded tissue paper (Kleenex) is suitable nesting material. Some use cedar or pine chips, however it is said that neither of these should be used as they contain oils called phenols that can slowly cause liver and kidney failure. Some also say you should avoid any cotton or fiber type beddings sold as nesting material. The fibers do not break down in the hamster抯 system and can get caught in their pouches or ingest them while eating. Be sure your hamsters cage is escape free. Hamsters are great escape artists! Once free, you may have a very hard time getting them back. They will chew on your wires, furniture, etc..... Hamsters rarely return to their cages on their own.

Syrian hamsters, also known as Goldens or Teddy Bear hamsters, are the most popular hamsters kept as pets. They are very easy to handle and make wonderful pets for children. They are not social with other hamsters however, and should be kept alone after 10 weeks of age. If caged together, Syrian hamsters can actually fight until they kill each other. Syrian hamsters are nocturnal, and are rarely active during the day.

Syrian hamsters come in a variety of colors, and they are one of the largest hamsters at a length of 4" - 7" when full grown, depending on the sex. Females can grow larger than the males, which reach only about 6" long. They have a very short tail, large cheek pouches, and small eyes. The average life span of a Syrian hamster is approximately 2 to 2-1/2 years, though they have been known to live as long as 4 years.

Dwarf Winter White Russian hamsters are similar in behavior to Dwarf Campbell Russians in that they are active during the day and can be kept in same sex pairs or groups. However, they do not have the reputation for biting when nervous, and they are generally very sweet and personable. They are very small and quick though, so they can be a challenge for young children to handle safely.

Dwarf Winter White Russians come in three colors: Sapphire, Pearl, and a combination of the two called Sapphire-Pearl. Pearl is a white pattern where white hairs are sprinkled throughout the coat, and Sapphire is a purple-gray color. Sapphire Winter White Russians have a gray undercoat, a thick gray stripe along their spines, and an ivory colored stomach.

Teddy Bear Dog Has Earned Its Place As One Of The Cutest Companion Dogs

Teddy Bear Dogs vary in size but are normally quite small, weighing no more than 7-9 pounds. Because they are hybrids, it is difficult to determine what health/temperament issues may arise. If the dog comes from purebred parents, they will be susceptible to health problems from both breeds. If the dog is more than a mix of two purebreds, it becomes more difficult to pinpoint potential health issues. There are, however, ailments that are common to smaller dogs, for example eye and ear problems, sensitivity to the cold, and bloat if overfed. Teddy Bear dogs tend to be quite yappy and difficult to housetrain, but this can be alleviated through proper training. Beware when you buy theTeddy Bear for sale or Teddy Bear puppies for sale as they can become startled easily and may nip children, so they should be monitored when in the presence of others.
　　
Teddy bear dogs are also raised for their temperament as they are very affectionate. They make great companion dogs and most are easy to train, though some do need firm handling. They are usually good with children. Grooming needs will vary depending on the breed mix. These dogs can weigh from seven to seventy seven pounds and stand nine to twenty one inches. Teddy Bear dogs are small, cute looking doll like dogs who bark less and are apt for all dog shows and apartment life.
　　
Teddy bears were originally bred for handicapped children, so they could hug and squeeze them with out getting a nip and struggle and instead get licks and love in return. Their hairs are smooth, silky and straight. Thus many beautiful hair styles can be tried on them specially for dog shows. Teddy Bear dogs also like wearing beautiful cute looking dresses and do not mind them. They are very good with all types of games like swimming, catching games etc. and they learn all sorts of tricks easily. They adore their owners very much and love to play with them. They are quite sturdy, quite comfortable and happy to play with young children. Teddy bear puppies can be further designed to form more cute looking dogs with the use of Euro linage. Euro linage is the genetic coding in dog breeds with preferred features, such as size in our case the imperial bloodlines, hair coloring in our case selected standard bloodline, and structure in our case the Mediterranean bloodline. The lineages are carefully selected for this purpose and there is no need of altering its breed. The shichon is not high strung like most small dogs and has a rag doll feel to it, when picked up or cuddled.
　　
Teddy bear puppies are small in stature, and remain small even into adulthood, growing to a height of approximately 12 inches. They weight a light 12 to 14 pounds as adult dogs.
　　
The breed sports a soft, fluffy coat that doesn't shed like most dog breeds. It can be clipped short into a "puppy cut" or left long.
　　
These dogs have round faces with squashed muzzles and large, endearing eyes, earning them their namesake. They also have medium length droopy ears and short, fluffy tails.
　　
Their coat can come in virtually any colour, giving each dog its own uniqueness that isn't usually seen in other companion breeds such as theBichon Frise.
　　
It is said that a dog is a man's best friend. We are familiar with different types of dogs, some of them have been with us for hundreds of years. Every breed of dog is admired for its characteristics or traits. Dogs of collie breed are famous for their magnificent coat, the greyhound for their speed and the German shepherds as police dogs. The latest trend, which for some time remained restricted to Hollywood celebrities is now sweeping the United States off its feet. Many individuals are paying big money to acquire a teddy bear dog for their family. This small and cute dog has managed to win many hearts. On the other hand, American Kennel Club, which is a registry of purebred dogs such as, Chihuahua dogs, Bichon Frise, greyhound dogs, bulldogs in the United States, counts this breed as a designer breed. Some people refer to them as 'mutts' to emphasize their mix breeding; however at present, dog lovers are not interested in this kind of branding. What is the reason behind this sudden popularity of teddy bear dog breed?