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5 Tips For Choosing the Right Nutrition For Your Kitten

What you eat is what you are! This is right for the humans and also for the pets. You have to choose the right nutrition for your kitten so that it remains healthy always. Giving the right nutrition to your kitten would save you a lot of trips to the veterinarian and even a considerable amount of money spent on treatments. You can easily avoid serious medical conditions if you give proper nutrition to your kitten.

1. The cat needs proteins, amino acid, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, fatty acids and water. You have to ensure that the food that you choose for your kitten is well balanced with all these ingredients in the right quantities. Protein can be got from fish, meat, and poultry. You might ask whether a cat needs carbohydrates. Although it is not necessary it is used to fill the stomach and is found in canned foods as fillers. The color and flavor vary with the brands.

2. You can give both dry and canned foods. Alternate these so that the cat gets both of these. Most of the cats do not drink much water. Hence canned foods are better since it has water in it. Dry foods are better for feeding freely. Minerals and vitamins are to be added to the food that you give. Do not give the same food all the time. Change the menu frequently so that the cat is not bored with the same food. Do we eat the same food all the time? We don’t. So it is fair that we do not expect the kitten to have the same food for every meal.

3. Give foods from different brands so that the kitten is not addicted to a certain brand or flavor. Food addictions should be avoided as you might not get the same food always. Hence it is better to rotate the brands of foods from the start.

4. See whether any particular food causes allergies in the kitten. Just like humans, the kittens are also allergic to certain foods. You have to note them down and avoid such foods in the future.

5. Cheaper brands are not cheaper on your wallet. Cats eat as much as they get the nutrition needed. Premium foods have the right nutrition even if fed in small quantities. Cheaper foods might not have the required nutrition and they are just fillers. Cats will eat more of such foods until they get the required nutrition. So you will end up spending the same amount on cheaper foods too. Hence it is better to choose premium brands.

Apart from these it is important that the cat food you buy adheres to the protocols set by the AAFCO. The nutrients should be at that level or more than that. Check for the protein source in the label and the expiration date of the food. Avoid labels that have ‘by-products’ and ‘preservatives’. Avoid cat foods that have corn meal fillers and excess of other fillers.…

Licking Away Fur – How to Put an End to Your Cat’s Baldness

What would you think if you had a lovely, fluffy kitty and it suddenly started to lose its hair? Unfortunately, this problem is more common than many people realize and, in many cases, the hair loss is actually the result of your kitty simply overgrooming or doing other things that are causing hair loss to occur. Just as humans can suffer from obsessive compulsive disorders that cause them to repeatedly engage in the same behavior, your cat may do the same thing when it comes to grooming. As a result, baldness, which is also referred to as alopecia may occur. At the same time, there are other potential causes of feline baldness that needs to be ruled out before you assume the alopecia is the result of overgrooming.

Exploring Other Potential Causes of Alopecia

In addition to excessive grooming, there are several other potential causes of alopecia. Some of these include:

o Skin Parasites – parasites such as fleas and mites may cause your cat’s skin to become irritated, which can lead to overgrooming. Fortunately, it is usually pretty easy to spot fleas and mites, so it shouldn’t be too difficult for you to diagnose this as the cause of the baldness. In addition, there are several medications and other products available on the market that can help you get rid of these parasites and give your cat some relief from the irritation.

o Fungal Infections – fungal infections can also cause hair to fall out or make it brittle, which makes its break easily and for your cat to appear bald. If your cat is suffering from a fungal infection, you will likely need to visit your vet for medication to clear up the condition.

o Hormones – certain hormonal conditions can also lead to hair loss. By performing a simple blood test, your veterinarian will be able to determine if hormones are causing your cat’s hair loss to occur.

o Allergies – allergies can cause several problems to develop in your kitty, including hair loss. In addition, allergies can lead to skin irritation, which may cause your cat to overgroom.

If all of these conditions have been ruled out, you may have a cat that suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder. It is important to keep in mind, however, that there may be certain triggers or environmental factors that are causing your pet to overgroom. By understanding these triggers, you can more effectively treat the problem and, hopefully, put an end to your cat’s obsessive grooming.

Treating Overgrooming

In many cases, cats who overgroom are doing so in response to stress or anxiety. Therefore, one step in the treatment process may simply involve giving your cat anxiety medication or better yet, making changes in your household that will alleviate stress. For example, your cat may begin the behavior when a new cat is added to the household. By separating the cats and gradually reintroducing them, your cat’s stress and anxiety may be reduced and it may slow down on the grooming.

Providing your cat with other activities may also help reduce its tendency to overgroom. By introducing new toys or engaging in new activities, your cat may find other ways to entertain itself that do not involve licking its fur away!…

How To Set Up Your Home For Your New Ragdoll

Before you can bring home your new Ragdoll kitten, you must make sure that your home is ready to receive it. You would want to ensure that your new addition to your family will find its new home welcoming, safe and comfortable.

Here is a breakdown of 5 places in your home that you should kitten-proof:

Bathroom

The bathroom can be place of danger for any kitten because more often than not, water can be left unattended in a bathtub or in a bucket. If your Ragdoll kitten gets thirsty, it may wander to the bathroom and try to drink from the tub or bucket. Your kitty could possibly fall into either the bucket or the tub so to avoid that, be sure to keep your bathtub drained and have a lid to cover buckets filled with water. Always keep the toilet seat covered, too.

Outdoors

Cats, by nature, love to explore and the outside world is just as fascinating to them as the inside of your home. However, Ragdoll kittens should not be allowed to go outside the confines of your home or apartment. You should also check which plants you have in your home that can be poisonous to your new pet. Do what’s necessary to keep them away from it.

Kitchen

As a place where you cook and prepare food, kittens love hanging out in the kitchen. You have to be watchful of your new Ragdoll kitty around kitchen appliances, their wires and other electrical appliances. Try to keep your sink drained of water to avoid having your pet fall into it. Keep cleansers, soaps, liquids and powders that they can open and spill or even ingest in high cupboards or cabinets with child-safety locks to avoid poisoning.

Living Room

Ragdoll kittens like to play on the floor but will also like to play on sofa, chairs and tables. It would be best to have a scratching post or a cat tree around so they have a proper place to relax or have fun. You should also put away your favorite breakables in another cabinet that is far from your new kitten’s reach.

Bedroom

To avoid choking, personal items that include needles, pins and other small objects should be kept in a drawer. Your Ragdoll kitten is curious about everything and will try to taste or swallow those small items. Curling iron, blowdryer and other accessories should also be hidden away after use to avoid burning and other accidents. Cats also find laundry baskets appealing so it would be good to have a cover for your laundry pile.…

Florida’s Snake Problem

Florida is being overrun with snakes like the Burmese python. They are putting the natural wildlife in the Everglades in danger. The population, estimated to be over 100,000 in the Everglades, will attack and consume any type of wildlife including an alligator.

The governor of Florida is considering signing a bill putting a bounty on a captured snake to reduce the population. This procedure was used to control the alligator population. Besides the bounty, the licensed trappers will keep the proceeds from selling the meat and skin. The trappers will be licensed and trained by the state to capture them. It will be considered very dangerous for anyone to try to capture them without the proper training. It is competing with the alligator as the number one predator in the area.

The burmese python is one of the six largest snakes in the world. It can be found near water or in trees. It can grow up to 18 feet and weigh 160 pounds. It is lighted colored with brown blotches outlined in black. It is found throughout Southeast Asia but has a presence in the United States due to the pet trade.

It is native to Southeast Asia. It is an excellent swimmer and climber and needs a source of water to survive. The Everglades is a perfect habitat for it. It is active during the night and will sleep during the day. It tends to live in the underbrush. Florida’s marshes and wetlands are ideal locations for it. It’s diet consists of birds and mammals but will attack anything for food. It will seize its’ prey with it’s teeth and crush it’s prey with it’s body.

It has been hunted for it’s skin, folk medicines and in some areas, food. It has also been captured for the pet industry. It has a reputation as being docile, but can kill a human being with it’s strength. It is usually afraid of people, but like any wild animal, it is unpredictable and may attack a human. It has an instinct to hunt and will try to escape from it’s cage in captivity. It is recommended that two people be presented when handling the python. If it does attack one person, the other person can unwrap it.

Because of the size it reaches at adulthood, it can outgrow it’s surroundings in captivity. As an adult, it requires a large amount of food and an expensive enclosure. Owners tend to overfeed it. Many owners cannot deal with it as an adult and will release to the wild. As in the situation in Florida, it can start to breed and overwhelm an area causing an imbalance with the natural wildlife.…