The Pleasures of Sharing Information

Before you can determine whether or not a particular dog will be of value to you there are two basic items that must be addressed. One, you must know the breed of dog you want. Are you after a German Shepherd, Bernese Mountain dog, Newfoundland, Yorkshire Terrier or other type? If it’s a German Shepherd that you want you should be looking for german shepherd dog breeders. And two, you must be aware of some specific information about that breed. The information you need to be versed on includes the correct size for your dog breed, how often it needs to be brushed, how much activity or exercise it needs daily, if there are genetic diseases that are common with this type, have there been tests performed that have ruled these diseases out in this pup, and what else is required in maintaining it’s health such as clipping its nails.

There is a lot of additional information that is important for you to know as well. Some dog breeders don’t actually do the breeding themselves, but buy their animals from other areas. You should stick with a breeder that breeds and raises the pups on site. The reason for this is because you can better determine if this puppy was raised in a clean environment. Without examining its place of birth you have no idea what sort of environment it was raised in. Puppies can end up with mental or physical deficiencies if brought up in a cruel or unkempt environment.

Another item for concern is the age of the puppies that you are interested in. The puppies should be at least seven weeks old before they are placed. Their parents should be at least two years old before breeding and should have been tested for any possible genetic diseases.

When purchasing puppies it’s important that the pups have had some interaction with other animals and children. This is to help ensure that the dogs will be friendly and sociable. It’s also a good idea to get your puppy from a dog breeder that will allow you to call him later with any questions or concerns you may have about your animal.

There is a lot to know about breeding dogs and it’s very hard to find a competent experienced dog breeder who raises more than 4 or 5 different breeds. If he raises 6 or 8 or more it’s probably a good idea to look else ware for you puppy. Also, most experienced breeders belong to one or more breed clubs so ask them if that’s true with them.

As you are concerned about the specific breeder he should also show some concern with you as well. If he asks you questions about they type of environment that you will raising the pup, your family, and your experience with animals it’s usually a good sign that the animal has been raised with love. The breeder should have concern for the placement of his puppies.

Once you have made a decision to buy a specific dog there are few other items that should be addressed. A suggested diet should be provided for your animal. You should receive a registration certificate with your purchase. You should also require the seller to give you a 3-generation pedigree chart for the dog, a health record of the animal that includes dates the puppy was inoculated or received other veterinary care. Another important item is a health guarantee and you should require one. If it’s later discovered that the dog suffers from a genetic disease, for example, you should have some recourse. Along these same lines you should have in writing that you are allowed, within a reasonable amount of time, to have the puppy examined by a veterinarian at your own expense. And if it is found that the dog you have purchased has any defects, as determined by the veterinarian, you can return it for a full refund.

Finding the perfect dog can be a long and tedious process, but with a little preparation, education and effort it’s possible to obtain a quality animal that you will be proud to own.

This article is presented to you by Best Dog Breeders, an online source about dog breeders. For more information about dog breeding visit Best Dog Breeders.

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Stingrays will eat a wide variety of foods. Maintaining a varied
diet is extremely important in captive animals, as monocultural
diets incur a risk of nutritional deficiencies. Stingrays are
very active, and should be fed at least once a day, preferably
twice or even three times daily. The daily diet can be varied in
order to create some environmental enrichment as well as
balanced nutrition for the rays.

First Foods

First foods for newly acquired rays should be blackworms or
tubifex worms. These foods seem to be the most readily accepted,
and are small enough to be inadvertently ingested either by
mouth or through the spiracle, thereby giving the ray an
opportunity to taste these possibly unfamiliar foods by chance.
Foods that have been used for very small specimens, such as the
teacup rays, are small insect larvae such as mosquito larvae,
small shrimp known as ghost shrimp or glass shrimp, live adult
brine shrimp, and blackworms. Chitinous foods such as shrimp
provide less nutritional value than do soft-bodied foods, and so
should not be used as sole food items.

The best way to be certain that your new stingray is feeding is
to watch the spiracles as the ray passes over food on the bottom
of the tank. If it is eating, you will see the spiracles opening
and closing rapidly, or fluttering, as the food is ingested and
water is passed from the mouth and out the spiracles. Once you
observe a newly acquired ray readily feeding on black-worms or
redworms introduce finely chopped night crawlers in small
quantities. Once stingrays recognize these as food, most will
readily eat them. Later, experiment with other types of food.

Types of Food

Live Foods

Feed live foods, including blackworms or tubifex worms, in
quantities adequate to allow a small amount to be left in the
tank so the rays can browse later. However, when cleaning the
substrate, note whether a significant amount of living worms is
present; blackworms and tubifex worms will colonize the
substrate if not eaten and add to the nitrogenous waste
production in the aquarium.

Nonlive, Nonaquatic Foods

Chopped earthworms, redworms, or night crawlers and any nonlive,
nonaquatic foods should be fed in smaller quantities to prevent
any overlooked food from decomposing in the tank. Keep in mind
that stingrays have relatively small mouths-a 10-inch (25-cm)
ray may have a mouth that is 1/2 to 3/4 inch (13 to 19 mm) wide,
so chopped food items must be small enough to be eaten easily.
If a ray ingests a piece of food and repeatedly spits it out and
ingests it again, this usually indicates that the particle is
too large. Some ray species, such as antenna rays, have
extremely small mouths relative to their size.

Once acclimated, rays often develop techniques for eating larger
pieces of food; for example, newly imported rays may have
difficulty consuming even small chopped pieces of night
crawlers. Eventually, however, they learn to eat an entire worm
by sucking it into their oral cavity without chewing. Newly
acquired rays also often ignore feeder goldfish but they quickly
learn to chase down and consume feeders, even learning where
they hide in the tank.

Commercially Prepared Foods

Stingrays may learn to eat other unfamiliar foods such as brine
shrimp, pellet foods, or other commercially prepared foods.
While there is probably no harm in offering these foods to rays,
it is best to use fresh, live, or frozen foods as the dietary
staple. Although stingrays often do not initially accept frozen
or other nonliving foods, they may soon learn to eat these foods
after they have been acclimated. A benefit of frozen foods is
that they are less likely than live foods to introduce diseases
or parasites.

Hand-feeding

Occasionally, a well-acclimated specimen will fail to gain
weight, even though you are offering enough food. Several things
may cause this problem; the most likely possibility is that it
is not competing efficiently for food against other fish in the
aquarium, or it may have a parasitic infestation. Stingrays
occasionally do not seem to learn where foods can be found
during feeding times, and are always in the wrong part of the
tank during those times. In these cases, it is helpful to
hand-feed such specimens. By this I do not mean feeding with
your hands. Although some aquarists do this with stingrays, I do
not recommend it because of the possibility of being
accidentally stung. Remember that stingrays are wild animals,
and no matter how accustomed your specimens become to your
presence, it is impossible to always accurately predict their
response to humans. Instead, you should always perform the
hand-feeding of specimens with long forceps or a similar
instrument. Stingrays generally avoid metal objects and appear
to be frightened by metal; however, because they can sense
metal, they will quickly learn that when there is a metal object
in the aquarium, food is being offered. In this way, you can
teach your stingray to feed directly from forceps, and
selectively feed it more food.

Simply hold a night crawler (or a piece of night crawler) in the
forceps, and hold the worm in the aquarium so that the ray can
touch it with its fin. It should eat the worm immediately. After
a few feedings in this manner, allow the forceps to touch the
ray while it is eating the worm. It will quickly learn to
associate the forceps with feeding and soon you will find that
the ray will pounce on the forceps as soon as it touches it,
eagerly looking for a treat!

How Much and How Often

The key to having well-fed stingrays in your aquarium is
providing plenty of food. Unlike most fish that swim quietly
between feedings, stingrays search constantly for food, looking
under and around tank ornaments, moving driftwood, rocks,
filters, and even other fish! This high activity level
translates to a high metabolic rate, which means that while
searching for food rays continue to burn energy. If they use up
energy looking for food, but do not find any, they will lose
weight. To compensate for this loss of energy, it is essential
to provide adequate food. I cannot stress this enough. Hobbyists
sometimes tell me that they feed their rays three times weekly,
thinking that this is adequate. Stingrays should be fed at least
twice, and usually three times, daily. In spite of these
frequent feedings, rays will still constantly look for food
between feedings!

When feeding significant quantities of live feeder goldfish, it
is wise to add vitamin B1 to the feeder supply. Goldfish contain
the enzyme thiaminase, which destroys thiamin, or vitamin B1,
and this vitamin must be replenished. It should be your practice
to add one 50-mg tablet to each 500 gallons (1893 L) of water
every two weeks. You can add the tablets directly to the sump of
the wet-dry filter; or as an alternative, the tablets can be
added directly to the tank.

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Protein is crucial for your cat’s health, and generally comes
from fish, meat or poultry. Advertisers will often say their
brand is beef, turkey or mackerel flavoured, but it may not
actually contain those products, meaning it may not be rich in
protein. Always ensure the food you buy but your cat has a
sufficient amount of protein in it, irrespective of the flavour.

Cat Food Fact #2 Cat Food with Taurine Taurine is an important
amino acid for your cat, and you should also check that the food
you buy contains this supplement. Cats control their own levels
and indicate these with their appetite. If you cat is eating a
lot, the food you are buying may not have enough nutrients for a
balanced diet. You can watch your cats weight by buying a
nutrient rich food as your cat will eat less and you might even
save money.

Cat Food Fact #3 Canned or Dry Cat Food? Cats require a varied
diet, including a mixture of canned and dry food. Contrary to
opinions that it doesn’t matter, buying only one type of food
because of convenience or price is a mistake, and can harm your
cat’s health. When the cat is alone or unattended for a period,
carbohydrate rich dry food should be left out for your cat with
a supply of fresh water. Tinned food is higher in protein due to
the meat content, and contains higher water levels. Both are
essential for a balanced diet, and a combination of both dry and
canned food will keep essential variety in the diet and prevent
the cat from seeking food elsewhere.

Cat Food Fact #4 Avoid fillers in cat food Protein is essential
for your cat as part of a balanced diet. Ensure the food you buy
is rich in protein, and not overly full of carbohydrates, common
fillers used by manufacturers to build out volume. Always read
the label, and check for overly high levels of carbohydrate and
other by-products in the cat food.

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Buying a purebred dog is not something that should be taken lightly and not all breeders are equal. To make sure that you get a good quality dog that will be healthy and happy, you need to do some research and shop around.

The Pomeranian breed standard is to weight no more than seven pounds, but there are many Poms out there that weight 12 or even 20 pounds! While these may be great dogs and make good pets, they are not to the standard and you should not be paying the full price for a dog that will grow to this size. But how do you know how big a puppy will be?

One way to get a good feeling for how big your puppy might grow is to check out the parents. Are the parents tiny or large or just the right size? Than chances are your puppy will be the same size as the parents. If all the Pomeranians the breeder has are to breed standard and healthy, then this is a good sign that your puppy will be too. If the breeder will not show you the parents, then this is a red flag and you should keep looking for another breeder.

But how do you find a good Pomeranian Breeder?

One way to find a good Pomeranian breeder is to get in contact with people who already own a Pom. Maybe somebody you know already owns one? Find out as much information about the breed as you can. If you go to a pet store, talk with people. Pet owners love to talk about their pets. If you see a Pomeranian that is exactly what you want, find out what breeder he was purchased from and check them out for potential candidates.

When buying a dog, you need to be armed with all the information you can get. Research Pomeranians on the internet and in books. Know that it is important to become an educated consumer BEFORE you buy your dog from a breeder.

When you talk with breeders don’t be afraid to ask questions. Honest dog breeders will be more than happy to talk with you and answer every question. Note the condition of dog’s environment. Are the dogs pens clean? Are the puppies well cared for? Can you see the parents? What type of puppy food are they being feed? Have the puppies had their shots? Reputable breeders love their animals and go to great lengths to provide a proper “home like” environment. Puppies are products of their surroundings. A good, clean environment will surely be reflected in a dog’s playfulness.

Stay away from breeders who are interested only in making money. They generally don’t pay much attention to their dog’s emotional needs and health concerns. Also, they may in-breed their Pomeranians and this can trigger severe health issues. AVOID THESE BREEDERS! Reputable breeders will be more concerned about the welfare of the puppies then the money and will probably grill you as to your home environment and ability to care for the dog.

Some breeders may offer a 72 hour guarantee. This allows time to take your Pomeranian puppy to a vet for inspection. If any health issues are identified, contact the breeder and get your questions answered.

Good, honest Pomeranian breeders care for their dogs and it shows in their surroundings. There are no guarantees that you will always have a normal, perfect puppy, but you greatly increase the odds when you do your homework first!

Lee Dobbins is a Pomeranian lover and webmaster of Pomeranian Pages. Visit them to find out all about Pomeranians and get tips on Pomeranian breeders.

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The other day I was doing a research online for an article I was writing and I came across an article, which the author started by saying: “Euthanasia, is often the hardest thing to do, yet the greatest act of kindness”.

Then he went on explaining the “grueling” suffering and the guilt the pet owner goes through before making the decision, how it affects the whole family, especially the kids.

But then he explains euthanasia in the most loving way I’ve ever seen someone describe a murder. I remember “simple and peaceful” were some of the words he used, he even gave recommendations on how to avoid stress during the ride to the vet’s clinic.

The GREATEST act of KINDNESS? To whom? That little bundle of love didn’t know what was happening, he just knew that he was the happiest guy when you got home from work, he assumed you loved him back because you took him to walks on the park and you pampered him with professional grooming every once in a while. Little he knew that:

1)You were slowly poisoning him with the cheapest discount store pet food, that didn’t have the proper nutrients, but in turn was filled with toxins.

Processed pet food suppresses the immune system and leads to liver, kidney, heart and other degenerative diseases. You are going to be shocked when you know the nasty things that are used to manufacture your pet’s food, if you want to read the most shocking report on pet food click on: “What’s Really in Pet Food”.

2) Your choice of grooming products was the reason of his constant itching.

Commercial pet shampoos contains many toxic and destructive chemicals such as the foaming agents sodium laureth sulphate and cocamide betaine. These strong chemical de-greasers strip the hair of up to 4/5 of its natural oils and eventually produce sore, dry scalp/skin conditions and irritate the eyes.

3)You lead him to the degenerative diseases that put him in that cold, stainless steel table wondering: “What’s next?”

If you would have considered holistic pet care, for your furry friend, you could have been able to treat conditions even before the symptoms showed up and maintain your pet in balanced wellness avoiding him unnecessary pain, because holistic is not something metaphysical as many people may think, it simply means treating the body as a whole.

You don’t have to kill your dog (or cat), you have a choice: PREVENTION- that is the GREATEST act of kindness. It’s never too late to start taking good care of your pet, remember, we’re talking about the one who’s proud to be seen with you even if you’re ugly, the one who stays by your bed when you’re sick, the one who in the event of inverted positions, would not hesitate to take good care of you. Start now!

About the Author

Mariangie Gonzalez is an Agronomist with a major in Animal Science & Pre-Veterinary and runs the day-to-day operations of her home-based business which carries aromatherapy products, natural remedies, nutritional supplements and much more. She can also help you start your own home-based 100% natural pet supplies business, you can visit online at: http://www.MindBodyAndPaw.com

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