Winter is in full swing in many parts of the country, and our dogs are feeling the chill. So how do you keep their paws, coat, and nose healthy during winter walks when it’s freezing outside or during the windiest blizzards? From the tips of their cute wet noses to the bottom of their paws, here’s how to care for your pup in the coldest months.
A saltwater tank is a self-contained ecosystem. It needs to be outfitted with certain equipment to keep the water clean and to maintain optimal conditions for your tank inhabitants. Tank and stand Filtration equipment Heater and thermometer Lighting Protein skimmer Substrate Decor Salt mix Hydrometer or refractometer Bacteria additive Maintenance supplies Saltwater aquarium test kit Water conditioner Basic fish medications,Jump to section New Saltwater Tank Checklist How To Set up Your Saltwater Fish Tank How To Clean Your Saltwater Fish Tank FAQs About Saltwater Tank Setup
Dividing the Day Whether over a desktop nano-reef or a 6,000-gallon public exhibit, well-simulated moonlight can add an entirely new dimension to the aquarium habitat. For sure, once you’ve installed a good moonlight, nocturnal fishes (such as cardinal fish) that once seemed boring will now have a certain appeal. So, that part about timing your tank lights to match the natural photoperiod? While good for the animals, it does pose one problem for those who work into the evening; the keeper hardly ever gets to see the tank with the lights on! Overall, moonlights add some interest to the nighttime aquascape and truly give the hardworking aquarium keeper a little something to come home to.,Image via iStock.com/greenp By Kenneth Wingerter Lighting is one of the most important components in a saltwater fish aquarium system. This is particularly so if you keep photosynthetic organisms such as corals, macroalgae and tridacnid clams. The most effective marine aquarium lighting system is the one that is most controlled. Reef Tank Lighting Schedule One of the major lighting parameters that is most commonly controlled is photoperiod. Put most simply, in the context of an artificial environment, photoperiod is the tank’s lighting schedule. Aquarium photoperiod is controlled by timers (ranging from cheap household plug-in units to highly capable hardware/software located either in the unit or in “the cloud”). Generally, timers are set to operate the lighting at its highest intensity during midday when ambient light (light pollution from the room) is strongest. With your aquarium lights timed to match the ambient photoperiod, strong light pollution won’t inhibit the normal nighttime activities of the nocturnal creatures nor the rest of the diurnal (i.e., daytime active) creatures. But sunlight is not the only source of illumination in nature. Moonlight, too, has a huge influence on a coral reef. True, it is tens of thousands of times weaker than sunlight. It is indeed far too weak to support photosynthesis, for example. Still, it is just bright enough to guide reticent night dwellers from shadow to shadow. It even keeps sleepy diurnal fish from getting spooked out in the dark. And, perhaps most importantly, it widely serves as a major environmental cue—a signal. It seems a little light is better than none at all.
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Cold-weather cat shelters can provide life-saving protection for community cats. In general, a cat shelter needs two things, says Richard Angelo, Jr., a Best Friends Animal Society legislative attorney who focuses on community cat initiatives: A covered interior that’s warm and dry, to protect them from cold air, ice, and snow. Bedding that will help keep them comfortable. If your budget allows, you can invest in a weather-resistant cat house and place it in an area where community cats already live. Look for an option that’s insulated, like the Trixie Natura Insulated Cat House. Other good options include a heating pad, like the K&H Thermo Mod Heated Cat House.,When the weather outside is frightful, we humans escape the cold winter by spending more time indoors. But what about community cats, aka colonies of feral cats who live outdoors? Despite their fur coats, cats are vulnerable to winter weather, and those who live outside face risks like hypothermia and frostbite when temperatures dip to dangerous levels. We talked to shelter and rescue experts to bring you tips to keep these vulnerable felines safe and healthy when it’s cold outside.
If you’ve ever gone on vacation and wondered what to do with your fish, you may have wondered how long they can go without food. Here are some simple tips to keep your fish healthy while you’re away.
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Chinchillas are constantly renewing their coats. As new fur grows in, old fur is shed. This helps with temperature regulation. Chinchillas will shed more at the change of seasons. In the spring/summer as temperatures rise, the chinchillas will shed more fur as a way to have better ventilation and air circulation within their coat. A combination of high humidity and temperatures in the 80s-Fahrenheit may cause heatstroke, so temperature regulation is very important. In some chinchillas when fur is not shed it forms mats close to the skin. This prevents air circulation within the fur and can lead to overheating. Shedding will help them stay a bit cooler. By fall when the temperatures begin to drop, chinchillas are in various stages of shedding their summer coats and replacing them with denser winter coats to provide more warmth. Combing your chinchilla with grooming combs will help remove some of the shedding fur. After combing and mat removal, more dead fur may rise to the surface and can either be combed out during the next few days or left for the chinchilla to shed. Clean fur and repeated coat renewal contribute to overall chinchilla health. Chinchillas can slough fur trying to avoid capture. When fur is sloughed, large chunks of fur suddenly come loose. If a chinchilla is grabbed by anything or anyone, clumps of fur may stay behind as the chinchilla escapes. Research has shown that there are about 60 hair strands per hair follicle on chinchillas. Each hair strand has colored bands from top to bottom. The bottom band closest to the skin is called the “underfur.” The middle band, which may be a lighter shade (and even white in many mutations), is called the “bar.” The top band is called the “veiling.” Chinchillas also produce single, longer guard hairs. You can see them if you hold your chinchilla at eye level and look across the fur. If you want to determine the fur density, hold your chinchilla and gently blow into its fur. If the fur blows down and does not bounce back up and you see quite a bit of skin, the chinchilla’s fur is considered less dense. A chinchilla with a less dense coat will not shed as much as one with denser fur. Because chinchillas shed all year long, it is normal to find hairs in and around the cage every day. It is abnormal to have patches of fur missing from your chinchilla. Usually bald spots can be attributed to fur chewing, a fungus infection or bickering among cagemates where fur is pulled out or sloughed.,Q.
As much as we try to resist it or ignore it, we simply cannot deny that our cats age quicker than we do. Their needs and habits progressively shift, so our challenge as pet parents is to recognize change and helping our cats adapt. We want to keep them healthy and comfortable, just as we’d do for any of our beloved family members. The American Association of Feline Practitioners has developed new medical guidelines for senior cat care, which you can check out at AAFP. The AAFP classifies our aging pets as “mature” or middle age (7-10 years), “senior” (11-14 years) and “geriatric” (15+ years). To help out, two AAFP vets have offered their advice to make cat parents as senior-savvy as possible as Kitty edges toward her Medi-cat years. Read on to learn these invaluable tips for caring for a senior cat.
“I was in the small dog park with Stitch (a 10 lb. Maltese) and he started humping a little Chihuahua. The owner tried to pick up her dog to get it away from Stitch and Stitch was holding on so tight that he went up in the air, too. I guess he really clings! It was embarrassing, since the other girl was definitely trying to stop it, but also hilarious.” – Lisa Beebe Victoria’s advice: A dog that resorts to humping is likely feeling stress, excitement or anxiety. It’s important to understand that humping behavior from spayed or neutered dogs has nothing to do with reproduction (particularly because female dogs hump too!). To curb this embarrassing behavior at the dog park, try to interrupt it before it begins. You can either walk between your dog and his potential victim or you can call him to you and stroll to a different part of the park. If the humping is relentless, try taking your dog to the park during off-peak hours, as having fewer buddies might decrease his excitement level.,The dog park can be a great place for dogs to socialize with other mutts, retrieve a ball and blow off some energy by running back and forth across a grassy plain. But it can also be the location of some unforeseen disasters. We surveyed several dog owners to hear their most embarrassing dog park moments and, after getting a good laugh from some of these (the others were a tad cringe-worthy), asked dog trainer and author Victoria Schade and Move That Tail founder Brandy Diaz to weigh in on how these types of situations can be properly handled and avoided in the future.
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