Caring For Your Pets

Dog treats that contain egg products can be expensive and the ingredients are not always the best. As with human food, dog treats can be filled with preservatives, food coloring and a host of other things you really don’t want your dog eating. Making your dog treats at home not only guarantees you know what your dog is eating, but it can also be more cost effective.

Here are 3 recipes to get started.

Beefy Bones

½ ground beef uncooked

¼ cup chicken broth

1/3 cup mashed black beans

1/3 cup cottage cheese

1 tsp. soy sauce

Mix together the ground meat and the chicken broth in a bowl. Mix in the black beans and the cottage cheese. Next add the soy sauce. Blend all the ingredients together well. Shape the mixture into bone shapes and place them on a baking sheet. Bake the bones for 45 minutes at 375 degrees. Cool completely before serving.

Doggie Bacon Bits

6 slices cooked bacon crumbled

4 eggs beaten well

1/8 cup bacon fat

1 cup water

½ cup non-fat dry milk powder

2 cups graham flour

2 cups wheat germ

½ cup cornmeal

Combine ingredients together in a mixing bowl and mix well. Drop heaping tablespoon size drops on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave the baking sheet in the oven overnight so the treats dry out.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

1 egg

¼ peanut butter

2 tbsp peanut butter

¼ vegetable oil

½ cup honey

1 cup carrots shredded

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ cup quick cooking oats

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a cupcake tray with paper cupcake liners. You will need 7. Mix together the egg, peanut butter, oil, honey and shredded carrot in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking soda and oats. Combine the two bowls of ingredients into one bow and blend together well. Divide the mixture evenly among the cupcake papers. Bake for between 15 to 25 minutes. Don’t take them out until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in one of the cups. The tops should be light golden brown. Remove the tray from the oven and allow the cupcakes to cool on a wire baking rack.

Do you have a cat and dog that can’t seem to coexist? It is not uncommon for cats and dogs to fight like, well, cats and dogs. Some animals just seem to be able to live happily aside one another, while others need some help getting along. Knowing how to make a cat and dog get along can help restore harmony in your home.

When you want to introduce a new pet into the home it helps to make sure your home has enough space for you pets to have breathing room from one another. You want to keep the pets separated for several days so it is necessary to have a home with multiple rooms.

Make certain that your dog understands basic commands. You want to be able to control your dog so he doesn’t scare your cat by being overzealous or aggressive. If you are introducing a new dog into the home it won’t know commands yet so you will need to be very cautious when you introduce the dog to your cat.

Take it slow. Don’t just allow your dog to chase your cat around your home. Start off by keeping them separate for 3 or 4 days. This will give them time to get to know one another’s smells. It will also give the new pet a chance to adjust to their new home.

Cats and dogs are more likely to fight if you put them together prematurely. It is best to keep them in separate rooms until they are both calm and comfortable. Start the introduction by mixing the animal smells. Do this by petting one pet and then petting the other. They will smell the other pet on you.

Switch up the rooms you keep the pets in. This way they can sniff the other animals smell. Smells are how animals get to know one another. Allow your animals to get used to each other’s smells before you introduce them face to face. You can also rub a towel on your dog and then put the towel under your cat’s food bowl. This will help your cat get familiar with your dog’s smell.

Have your cat and dog smell each other separated by either a door or a baby gate. Put their food bowls by the divider so they are forced to adjust to the smell of the other pet.

It is not advisable to feed cats cow’s milk or egg protein. Once a kitten has been weaned from its mother it no longer produces an adequate amount of the enzyme lactase which is essential for digesting milk. If a cat is lactose intolerant and he drinks milk he will experience adverse side effects. This because when a cat is lactose intolerant he doesn’t produce enough lactase to breakdown the lactose into simple sugars that are absorbed by the bloodstream. Instead of digesting normally the milk remains in the digestive system and it ferments. This causes gas, bloating and diarrhea.

Some people think it is okay to give kittens cow’s milk. This is especially true if the kitten is abandoned by its mother. But you need to understand pet food ingredients and what a pet needs. Kittens usually wean at four weeks of age, so if they are abandoned by their mother before that point you will need to supplement the milk they would be getting from their mother. That being said, you should never give a kitten cow’s milk. You should buy a special kitten formula that you can buy at a pet store or get from your veterinarian. Cow’s milk is designed for baby cows, not baby kittens.

Not all cats are intolerant of cow’s milk. The only way to find out if your cat is intolerant of milk is to feed him a dish of milk. If he gets diarrhea you know that you should not give him cow’s milk again. If your cat tolerates the cow’s milk you can give him a little a little bit every now and then as a treat. It is not something you would want to give your cat every day.

If you want to give your cat milk on a regular basis you should buy special cat milk from a pet supply store. Nutritionally cats do not need milk because if they eat a food that is nutritionally complete they will get everything they need from their food. Milk contains a lot of calories so feeding your cat milk too much can cause obesity. Water has no calories so it is definitely the preferred drink over milk.

There are not many animals that wouldn’t want to live on a farm. Dogs are no exemption to that fact. Living on a farm helps dogs serve their natural purpose in life. It keeps them busy and staves off boredom. Dogs that live on a farm are typically physically active so they are healthy and happy. Living on a farm is good for your dog’s mental and physical well-being.

Herding

Many different dog breeds love to herd other animals. Living on a farm gives a herding dog a chance to fulfill the natural instinct to herd. Herding is good for a dog’s physical and mental well-being. It is great exercise for them. Dogs herd all types of livestock. They herd lambs, cows and even chickens. Dogs that herd will even try to herd people if they have no animals to herd. Not all breeds herd.

Guarding

Most dogs have a natural instinct to want to protect their property or territory. On a farm a dog has a lot of territory to make his own. He gets to guard the home, the barn, the other animals and the people. Not all dog breeds are territorial, but most want to protect their home and people. Many protect the other animals on the farm from predators. Guard dogs will bark when predators approach. This will scare off predators and alert the farmer know there is a predator approaching. They can also help alert their owners when a person is trespassing.

Free to Roam

Most farm dogs have free roam of the farm they live on. This is any dogs dream circumstances. They can run, play and enjoy the land. Most farm dogs go in the house at night, but some have a dog house outside.

Bonding with Other Animals

Dogs that live on farms have the opportunity to bond with other animals. They develop friendships with these animals and they grow to love and protect them

Farm Breeds

There are certain dog breeds that are better than others for thriving on a farm. These breeds have traits that are bred into them that make them good at herding and guarding animals. These breeds include Great Pyrenees, Kuvasz, Komondor, Anatolian Shepard, Border Collie, Akbash, Maremma, and Tibetan Mastiff. Mixed breed dogs can also make great farm dogs.

Dogs also enjoy living in senior living bartlett tn facilities, as senior citizens often provide the kind of loving environment that dogs love.

All of the dog food brands on the shelf claim to be nutritionally complete and balanced, so how do you tell which foods are good for your dog and which are not? The fact is, there are foods on the shelf that are not the best choice for your dog. To avoid these foods you need to know what ingredients to avoid in a dog food.

Corn

There is no nutritional value to adding corn to a dog food. All it does is add shelf weight to the food. Most dogs don’t digest corn easily. It can cause gas and stomach upset, For this reason you should avoid any dog food with corn in it. This includes corn meal. You will be surprised what a difference it will make in your dog to cut corn out of his diet.

Soy

Most dogs are allergic to soy so having soy in their dog food is not good. If a dog food doesn’t have soy it will usually advertise it on the front of the bag. Soy can affect the condition of your dog’s coat and it can cause stomach upset.

By-products

You want the first ingredient of your dog’s food to be a meat. Chicken, lamb, beef, duck, turkey, they are all acceptable. What you don’t want is a meat by-product. By-product is the left over scarps of meat and the quality of the meat is questionable.

Preservatives

To extend the shelf life of your pet’s food suppliers must add a preservative. That being said, not all preservatives are good for your dog. Ideally, you want to choose a food that is preserved with vitamin C or E. There are a few preservatives you absolutely want to avoid. First you want to avoid ethoxyquin. This is not just a preservative it is a pesticide and a hardening agent.

There are two more preservatives you should steer clear of when selecting a dog food. One is BHA or butylated hydroxyanisole. The other is butylated hydroxytoluene or BHT. The World Health Organization has named both of these ingredients as cancer causing compounds.

At the end of the day the most important thing you can do is read the ingredient label. You might even choose to add chicken flavored protein powder to their diet. Most dog foods will label themselves as nutritionally complete, but the ingredient label will tell you if that is actually true.