Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Feeding Pets the Healthy Way: Organic Pet Food Industry

According to organic food industry reviews, one segment of the market that is steadily growing is the organic pet food industry. People have become more health conscious in recent years due to the availability of information about the subject. The organic food industry has grown tremendously over the last eighteen years and trends seem to point to that growth continuing in years to come as people look for other products besides food that are also organically produced. The organic pet food industry has been growing too since as individuals find out more about how food is produced for human consumption and what is health to eat, they start to think about their pets and the types of foods that they are eating. Often, once they start to examine the ingredients on the pet food bags and research to find out what those ingredients really mean, they are appalled and turn to the organic pet food industry to supply them with pet food from that time forth.

The organic pet food industry watches over the ingredients that are used in their pet foods so that only quality ingredients are used. In the cheaper brands of pet food, often the first ingredient in the dog or cat foods is some sort of grain meal. That means that what is left over in the grain processing plants after the grain has been processed for human consumption is used as filler material in the pet foods. This does not have much if any nutritional value for the pets and are empty calories.

The meat meal is also not much better on the nutritional front, especially not compared to the organic pet food industry's use of meats. Often pet owners will turn to pet foods that at least have a type of meat meal as the first ingredient, thinking that this is better and richer for their pets. However, the meat meal is much the same as the grain meal since it is the left over parts of the animals that are not fit for human consumption that are ground up into the meat meal. This means that the bones, lungs, brain, feet, beaks, feathers and other parts of the animals that humans cannot consume are ground up and put into the pet food. There is little to no nutritional value in these ingredients.

The organic pet food industry ensures that only human grade meats and grains are used in the pet foods so that the pets are getting the nutrients that they need from their food each day. Even though the organic pet foods cost more, the owners are usually amazed at the difference in their animals' coats and energy level, as well as decreasing the amount of food needed since it is richer.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Cat Leash Training – Is It Possible?

Cats are considered to be very stubborn and thus the question is quite obvious, can you leash train a cat? The answer is yes, cats can be trained on leashes. The trick is doing it the right way. The thing is most cats (not all) can be leash trained with patience. The question is why raise the doubt, can cats be leash trained? The answer lies in their behaviors. Cats are very independent animals and like to stay that way. It is often said that humans do not make cats their pets; it is the other way round. Cats use humans so that they can get food and shelter. For this they have adopted themselves in such a way that we feel affectionate towards them and take them as pets.

Before deciding whether you want your cat be leash trained, you need to determine what sort of cat is yours. Is it a cat which loves outdoors or is it a cat who likes to stay indoors all the time? If all their needs are satisfied within the house, they will seldom leave the house. Considering their feline nature, they have certain hunting instincts in them. These instincts can be satisfied by placing a protected birdfeed or birdbath within view (not reach) of the cat. Also try to place some green grass within their reach, so whenever they need to eat it, it should be freely available to them. If all these things are looked after, your cat might not go out at all, and there would be no question as to whether cats can be leash trained.

Now let’s get back to the question can cats be leash trained. Training cat to walk on leash is quite difficult and its success lies in the behavior of cats. What does a cat seek when it is taken for a pet? Of course a cat needs food, shelter and love. Now you have to use these things as tools to leash train your cat. Whenever you are giving any sort of training to your cat, food is the biggest motivator. After food, love takes prominence, which you should use effectively. If these things are carried out in an effective manner, there would not be a question of, ‘can cats be leash trained.’

Can cats be leash trained is also often asked because cats are not considered to be faithful to their owners. But keep it in mind, if you apply the right technique, cats can be leash trained.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Buying Pet Training Collars

It is really nice to have pets at your home. They play with you, they laugh with you, they cry with you and do lot more other things which make you happy and angry too. If a pet is not trained properly, a lot of things can go wrong. What if your pet has a nasty habit of soiling your expensive sofas and carpets, what if your pet scratches the bed posts or tears your clothes or chews your shoes? These things are not only annoying but also cost you a lot. A pet training collar is the solution to all these problems.

Now pet training collars are not only meant for basic pet training. They can also be used to give sports and advanced training to your pets. These collars are designed in such a way that they help the pet owners to control unruly and erratic pets under control. Strictly speaking, pet training collars are meant only for cats and dogs, as they are the only domesticated animals which have considerable intelligence to get trained.

The best training collar enables its owner to teach his pet to obey him. This is particularly useful if your pet has not become potty trained even after several weeks of training. Though the last option would be send your pet to pet training classes, pet training collars can ease that out for you. The operation of these pet training collars is very simple. It is a remote controlled device, which is worn as a collar by your pet. Whenever your pet does something wrong or is about to do something wrong, you can activate it, which inflicts some sort of pain in the form or choke, pinch or electric shock. But remember that only certain things like potty training should be done with force or pain. The rest of the training can be given without them.

There are basically three types of pet training collars. The first is the choke collar, which chokes the pet’s neck by shrinking in size. This is particularly useful if you are taking your pet for a walk outside and do not want it to pull on you. Next is a pinch and electric shock collar, which pinch and gives an electric shock when activated by a remote control. Both of these pet training collars can be used for giving basic training to advanced and sport training to your pets. But just to remind again, only potty training needs to be given with force and pain, everything else can be done with love.