Shout About Pets

Have you ever seen a newt when out and about? I’ll always remember the first time I came across a Great Crested Newt; I was pretty young and hadn’t seen one before and assumed it was some sort of lizard (of course I later learned they are amphibians not reptilian).

Given the scarcity of this creature throughout Europe, it is classified as a ’strictly protected’ species - this is despite it being relatively abundant in it’s native land, the UK.

In fact, because of the fact it’s on the conserved wildlife list, efforts must be taken not to disturb their habitat or endanger them. If development is occurring in close proximity to a community of Great Crested Newts, then a licence is required by the development company. They may also have to find appropriate protection for the wildlife such as newt fencing. Sometimes newt trapping is used in conjunction with newt fencing to safely transport a local newt population to a new location before development commences.

Owning a pet is a pretty expensive venture. Pedigrees are particularly expensive investments, but the real costs start to come in after you have bought your kitten or puppy and you need to start thinking about vet bills and so on. The unfortunate truth is that pets can’t always be in the best of health and even when you’ve paid for initial injections and so on, you may have medical bills to come in the future.

On top of this, you will have to deal with the expense of feeding your furry friend as a continuous expense, to say nothing of those times when you feel like treating your pet either to a special something they can eat or to a toy that will keep them occupied.

A little extra money always comes in handy for pet owners. Online bingo is a fantastic way of earning some cash you can spend on pet food, pet accessories, treats, vet bills or any other expense associated with keeping your animals happy.

If you want to win Sun Bingo is one of the best sites to choose for its great promotions and its regular special games. Get involved and make owning a pet a less expensive business.

Cats sleep for a really quite frightening proportion of their lives. Even at their most active, they’re still likely to sleep for about 12 to 16 hours. Lazier cats can rack up 20 hours of sleep in every 24 hour period.

The effect is magnified by the fact that cats are virtually nocturnal, being at their most active at dawn and dusk. This is why your cat absolutely flips out for half an hour or so round about the time the sun goes down.

Bizarrely, long haired cats are generally less active than short haired cats. Maybe it’s something to do with conserving energy in cold climates. I dunno. I just made that up really.

Very few of them, actually. I’ll admit this is largely a personal prejudice, but their beady eyes, sharp beaks and clawing feet freak me out a bit.

With that in mind, you want to try and get the least birdlike bird to be your pet. You want something with big cow eyes, a rounded beak and actually you probably can’t do anything about the feet. They don’t come with wheels. Some birds that love water have flipper feet. They’re better than talons.

You know what? Thinking about it, I’m not even sure birds should be pets at all. Birds need room. Pets have to stay indoors. It’s not fair to keep an animal that can fly in a cage. It can’t do the one thing it loves doing.

So, in conclusion, get a penguin.

What kind of an idiot needs to have food rationed? Surely we’ve all evolved to look after ourselves to at least that degree?

Well, no. Take a look at Americans. Clearly even humanity hasn’t quite got a handle on how much food is needed for survival. What chance have goldfish got?

Goldfish need to be fed very carefully or they can develop all sorts of problems. They can get fin rot or a fatty liver and too much food can have an effect on the quality of the water as well, which can lead to all sorts of other problems.

As a rule of thumb, only feed the fish as much as they can eat in four or five minutes. Anything not eaten after this time probably won’t be eaten.

As pets, guinea pigs are… okay. They’re not going to do a lot, but if guinea pigs are your thing, go ahead, knock yourself out.

If guinea pigs are REALLY your thing, how about getting a capybara? It’s basically a guinea pig built to the wrong scale.

They have slightly webbed feet, no tail and just sort of skulk around. They’re big though. They can be eight or nine stones in weight. Fat buggers.

It’s hard to look at a capybara without thinking that it looks like some other animal, only rounded in some way – shorter legs, rounder body, stubby snout.

One of the best things about cats is that, like soap, they’re self-cleansing. However, from time to time, you do need to intervene.

Cats are forever getting scratches – mostly from other cats. If your cat gets scratches on their back legs, they’re not a fighter. If they get them on their face and front paws, they’re scrapping.

Most of these cuts don’t come to much, but occasionally one can get infected. If there is a big cut or you can see that one has become infected, you’ll need to clean it.

You need nothing more than salt water and a cloth or kitchen towel, but a word of advice – be forceful. Many cat owners are too gentle and don’t actually clean the wound, which is a waste of time.

Today we are going to cover the top 10 cat names for cats in the UK, but first we must cover how to choose the perfect name.

• Make sure that the name is (or can be shortened) to 2 sylabbles at most.
• Make sure the name is completely different from other pets in the family.
• Try and make it ‘timeless’ - will ‘P-Kitty’ still be relevent in a few years?

1. Molly
2. Charlie
3. Tigger
4. Poppy
5. Oscar
6. Smudge
7. Millie
8. Daisy
9. Max
10. Jasper

It is not uncommon for dogs of an older age group to suffer from arthritis. As dogs (and other mammals) become older the joints can get a lot weaker and the onset of arthritis can occur, however looking after a dog with arthritis can be as simple as getting the dogs sleep pattern, diet and exercise correct.

• Give your dog more sleep - even think about providing a softer bed for them to sleep in.
• Feed the dog better - stay away from high calorie food and maybe look at some supplements.
• Excercise your pet - Keep the dog as active as they will alllow, as heathly joints are less painful and keeping the joints moving is key.

A common misconception about dogs is that when they yawn that they muxt be tired - this is not always the case. The loyal dog - mans best friend is often known to ape what their owners do, and this can include yawning when YOU appear tired.

Another reason that scientists have given for dogs yawning is that they may be giving you a signal that they are bored and simply want you to play with them.