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Archive for May, 2008

Ask A Pet Owner

Being a dog owner myself, I have learned that there are many options for pet care while living in the Frisco and Plano regions of Texas. After having some real bad experiences with boarding my pets, I finally decided to hire a pet sitter. I knew right away that using a pet sitter was by far the best option for my 2 dogs. Being that I already have dedicated my life to animals, I then decided to open up Bestest Buddies Luxury Pet Services here in Frisco, Texas. What I have learned over my years in pet sitting is that once you choose a pet sitter, you will never board your pets again. If you don’t believe me, just ask any pet owner who uses a pet sitter. Here are just a few things that pet owners would say about their pet sitters.

Flexibility

Having a Frisco pet sitter makes your life easier. You have no need to take your pet to and from a boarding facility. All boarding facilities have a check-in and check out time for your pets. If you happen to work weird hours or have last second plans, you might not have an option for your pets. With a pet sitter, you are easily able to make an appointment for when you will be away. Have last second plans? Do you have a flight that leaves late night? Using a pet sitter makes these things a non issue, for both you and your pets!

Price

Since boarding facilities do have check-out times, even if you come home even just an hour late you will end up paying for an additional day. Since my work schedule was rather unpredictable at times, I always ended up paying for 2 days of care even though I only was away for 10 hours. Worst yet, I was not able to pick up my dogs until the next day which was rather inconvenient. With a pet sitter, you will be in charge of how many visits you pet will need while you are away. More importantly, after you do finish working that long day at work or after a long flight, there is nothing in the world better than coming home and having your pet greet you at the door! Having a pet sitter really does make a huge difference in peoples lives, as well as their pets.

Care

I cannot tell you how many times my pets would get ill when going to a boarding facility. I always took great care of my dogs. What I realized is that you cannot trust others with their pets. My dogs were constantly coming down with something when I boarded them. If it was not a virus, it would have been fleas. Once my older dog came home limping after playing rough with another dog. With a pet sitter, you will never have to worry about other people’s pets. Any vet will tell you that your dog is at their safest when at home. With a pet sitter, you won’t have to take your pets to the vet as often. We all know you love your dogs, cats and caged animals, but how can you fully trust other people’s pets? You can’t, so using a pet sitter and having your pets at home is really the best option. To me, it is the only option.

Service

Our pet sitters at Bestest Buddies have on-call services. Do you want to go out after work but know your dog needs to go to the potty? Call us, our pet sitters will gladly make sure your pet does not suffer because you want to go out on the town. Have you ever been snowed in or missed a flight? Our pet sitters easily accommodate changes in plans. There is no need to keep your pet boarded for an additional night because you are going to be home a few hours late! With our pet sitters this will never a worry! We also make sure that while you are away, you will receive pictures of your pet with a daily updates on all of the fun they are having. We believe at Bestest Buddies that your pets deserve the highest standard of care while you are away. This is why 95% of our business is either repeat business or from client referrals.

In Conclusion

Owning pets is one of the biggest joys of our lives. It has been proven that pet owners live longer and are more happy than non-pet owners. Though work and travel can be stressful, having a pet sitter “on staff” can make your life much much easier. There is nothing better than knowing that your pet has someone dedicated to them and their happiness! I know this first hand not because I own a pet sitting company, but because I use pet sitters myself!

A window pet door is usually made for small animals like kittens and puppies. It’s because we usually use flaps or screen doors on it and the materials is not for animals heavier than 20 pounds.

You may already have a window opening on your balcony where your pet can enter and exit through. But it is not always that you can you leave your windows open. Burglars and other intruders can enter inside your house.

On the other hand, if you put a screen on your window, cats can figure out that they can have their way inside by crawling a hole through the screen.

They could also accidentally break your pots or vases.

To solve this problem, you may want to install a window pet door for your pet. This type of door is not only made for cats, it is also preferred for small animals like puppies. This window pet door has thin aluminum or plastic frames.

The materials are not extremely strong so it is not recommended for big animals like large breeds of dogs. They can easily be damaged if the dog going through is more than 20 pounds.   

You can install window pet screen and flaps for ease of use. A window screen is also a sturdy place to attach a pet door as long as it is intended for small animals like puppies. You can install a window pet door in the screen of your window to let your pet come and go. It is a plastic door held closed usually by a small magnet.

To install a window screen mounted door, you have to cut a perfectly good window screen. If you happen to cut a hole in the top of the screen instead of the bottom, you may have to replace your window screen and start the process all over again.

To avoid this mistake, try marking the location of the pet screen door with a masking tape or use a pencil so you’ll know where is the top and bottom of your screen. This way, you’ll know where you’ll cut the screen.

Tips in installing a window screen pet door
1. Place a piece of plywood or a thick board on the ground. Lie half of the frame of the pet door on top of it.

2. Next, lay the window screen on top-half of the door and the wooden board to line the entrance in the correct position. Move the screen until the pet door lines up with the pencil marks or tape marks you made on the screen.

3. You can use the grooves from the dog or cat door all the way around the frame as a guide to cutting a door-sized hole in the screen.

4. To roll the screen in, use a screen roller to roll the edges of the cut screen into the dog frame with screen spline. After this, your gate is complete and you can now reinstall the screen.

Your pet can be easily trained to use this type of door. He will only need to push the flap if he wants to enter or exit the house. The magnet keeps the flap closed while your screen keeps the bags out even if the window is open.

Putting window pet doors in the screen just lets the pet come and go as they please so long as the window is open. With this type of pet door, you’ll never have to worry about your pets going back to your place.

Itchy skin, hair loss, constant scratching, ear and anal gland problems are the most common indicators of a dog skin problem.

Although there are many canine skin disorders, the 5 following tips will help to identify some of the more common dog skin problems.

1. Fleas: The best way to identify a flea problem is to check your pets belly area and along the inside of the back legs. The hair is thinner in this area and easier to spot both fleas and flea dirt. The flea itself is brown or copper colored and roughly the size of a pin-head. Flea dirt looks like sprinkled pepper. Ruffling the fur on your dog’s back and along the base of the tail is also an easy way to find fleas and flea droppings. Often times dogs that develop Flea Allergy Dermatitis will show hair loss around the base (top) of the tail. There are many options available for flea and tick control.

2. Food Allergy Dermatitis: Although food allergies can appear in pups as early on as 5 or 6 months, they can also develop in adult dogs as late as 11 or 12 years old. Common symptoms of food allergy dermatitis are itching of the skin, excessive scratching, hot spots and even skin infections. Dog owners should realize that there is a distinct difference between Food Allergies and Food Intolerance. Like people, classic symptoms of a food intolerance would be an upset stomach and diarrhea. All foods do not agree with all dogs. Pink Bismuth is a safe remedy for stomach upset and diarrhea in dogs. Food allergies require slowly eliminating foods and changing the diet.

3. Atopic Dermatitis: A condition caused by environmental allergens. Dogs that suffer with airborne allergies will often rub their face along the side of a sofa or along the carpet. As with food allergies, dogs will also chew their feet. With Atopic Dermatitis, it’s common for dogs to develop ear infections due to a yeast overgrowth. Pollen, trees, grass, dust and wool fabric are just a few common airborne allergens that some dogs are sensitive to. Antihistimines are often prescribed.

4. Acral Lick Dermatitis (Lick Granuloma): This raised lesion will be red, hairless and is usually found on the leg of the dog. This neurological condition is self-induced due to continuous licking. Possible causes include anxiety, boredom and stress. Treatment will include identifying the source of the problem (anxiety, etc.), restricting licking of the area and often times medication for behavioral modification.

5. Hot Spots: Medically referred to as Acute Moist Dermatitis, these round lesions generally appear in warmer weather. Along the hip, the sides of the chest and around the head area are the most common locations for hot spots. These moist and hairless inflammations are painful causing the dog to fixate on the particular spot by licking, chewing and scratching at it. Continuous licking in one area is a large factor in the development of hot spots. These lesions can quickly become very large in size. The location of the hot spot will help determine what the underlying problem could be an; anal gland problem, ear problem or a flea problem. A Veterinarian will clip the hair around the spot, clean it with a medicated solution, prescribe antibiotics and pain medicine.

Determining the source of many dog skin problems can be difficult. Skin conditions can be uncomfortable and painful, so dog owners should not give up until they know where the problem stems from.

Pollen is a source of protein, vitamins, mineral and some carbohydrates for honeybees. One pollen alone does not provide a bee with all the nutrients they need to stay healthy, so a variety of pollens are needed to provide them will all the nutrients they need. Without these nutrients, bees would not be able to produce the royal jelly required to feed the queen and rear brood. If the weather will not allow the bees to leave the hive for several days to collect pollen, and there is very little stored in the combs, it will be necessary the beekeeper to feed the bees a pollen substitute. At the same time the beekeeper will feed them sugar syrup. 

The main ingredient used in making a pollen substitute is brewer’s yeast. The yeast can be fed to the bees dry, but the bees can better utilize the yeast when it is made into patties with the consistency of peanut butter. The yeast is often mixed with 50% sucrose syrup to moisten the patties. The patties are wrapped in wax paper or placed inside plastic bags to keep them moist. The beekeepers that use the high fructose corn syrup will mix the patties using that syrup. Other ingredients can be added to the patties that offer more nutrients than the yeast and syrup mixture alone. Beekeepers will add casein, lactalbumin or soy flour to their mixtures. If the beekeeper use the casein and lacatalbumin it is necessary for them to watch out for lactose and over two- percent sodium. When the beekeepers use soy flour, they try to get the “debittered” soy flour that has been processed and retains some lipids, and toasted to knock out enzymes that interfere with the bees’ digestion. Always make sure to check the data on the soy flour. The beekeeper will want to determine if the soy is a “high sucrose” variety or contains mostly stachyose. Stachyose is toxic to bees. Beekeepers will sometimes add a “feed yeast” like Torula to the pollen mixture to enhance the nutrients in the substitute. Most of them don’t use it because of the high cost.

Pollen substitutes do not increase brood production as well as pollen sources brought in by the bees themselves. Because of the pollen substitute brood rearing will not stop all together should the weather stay bad for a while. A beekeeper will have a fatter bee when using a pollen substitute. There are some areas where pollen is scarce in the late summer and fall. If the beekeeper feeds the bees pollen substitute for a fatter bee, a fatter bee will winter better and rear more brood the next spring than their non-fed counterparts.

Bees are not fond of pollen substitutes. It must be place directly in contact with the bees and as close to the brood as possible. As long as the bees are bringing in a trickle of pollen the substitute will be eaten. If there is no pollen being brought in, the substitute will be ignored and will spoil over time. There are some commercially formulated pollen substitutes on the market that claim the pollen substitute is so attractive to the bees that they will eat it anytime the substitute is offered. No one has investigated those claims.