Weekly Creature Tip 5/12/12

This week’s creature tip on goats is titled, “Breeding Goats”

Weekly Bible Verse: Psalm 104:18 The high hills are for the wild goats; The cliffs are a refuge for the rock badgers.

The ideal age to start breeding your goat is 18 months.  At 18 months the majority of the goat’s growth is complete; however goats are usually full grown at 24 months and sometimes not until 36 months.  Some breeders will breed their goats as early as 8 months.  I would not recommend breeding your goat before 12 months old.  Breeding too soon could cause their growth to be stunted and the momma can have other health problems too.  A growing goat needs extra nutrients but if the goat is pregnant at a young age the babies and momma will have a hard time getting enough nutrients and vitamins/minerals.  To prevent early breeding keep your buck securely locked up.  I have heard that pygmy goat can become pregnant as early as 2 months old so be sure to separate buck kids at an early age.  The gestation period for most goats is about 5 months.  The Pygmy goat comes into season every month but most other breeds come into season twice a year.  I recommend breeding your doe no more than once a year.  Breeding your doe twice a year, every year will be harder on the goat’s body thus shortening her life.  If you have a doe that you are milking, be sure to let her dry up a few months before her next kidding.  Breeding a goat and keeping her in milk all the time will take a lot out of the goat’s body thus shortening her life.  Raising goats is very rewarding but things do not always go as planed.  Whenever breeding animals you must always be prepared to see death and also be able to pay any vet bills that may arise.  One last thing, make sure you feed both pregnant and lactating goats a good nutritious diet with sufficient protein.

Weekly Creature Tip 5/5/12

This week’s creature tip on fish is titled, “Freshwater Fish vs. Saltwater Fish”

Weekly Bible Verse: Genesis 1:21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Freshwater fish are cheaper to care for than saltwater fish.  Saltwater fish are not for beginner fish owners because they are more complicated to care for.  Most freshwater fish are easy to care for.  Saltwater fish are usually more colorful but the cost per fish is not going to be cheap, prices range from $35 each to $100s of dollars.  Most freshwater fish range in price from $2-$15 each, and there are several colorful freshwater fish too.

If you have had freshwater tanks before and want to get into saltwater tanks then go for it.  Just do your research, get some books on saltwater tanks and talk to other people that have saltwater tanks.  Also be prepared for the costs and try starting out with a small tank, like under 10 gallons.  Saltwater tanks open up a whole new experience to owning fish.

Weekly Creature Tip 4/28/12

This week’s creature tip on dogs is titled, “Cleaning your Dog’s Ears”

Weekly Bible Verse: Genesis 2:19 Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.

It is important to check your dog’s ears regularly and clean them when they become dirty. It is especially important to pluck out any hair inside the ear canal.  The Poodle, Bichon Frise, and a few other breeds grow hair inside their ears; dogs mixed with these breeds will often have hair in their ears as well. Pluck the hair using dog ear powder to help your fingers grip the hair.  You can also use hemostats to pluck the hair.

There are a lot of ear cleaning products available in stores (most of them are liquids).  Before using an ear cleaner, read the label to see how much to use.  After the product is in your dog’s ear canal gently massage the ear.  Next, allow your dog to shake its head because this will cause the discharge in the dog’s ear canal to loosen and come out.  You will need to wipe the dirt from the ear.  Be careful when wiping the dog’s ear; do not wipe too deep into the ear.  If your dog’s ears have a lot of build-up you should take him/her to the vet.  This could be an indication of an infection.  If you try cleaning a very dirty ear too deeply, you will actually pack the muck into the ear canal making the infection worse (not to mention causing more pain to the dog).  You should NOT use Q-tips in your dog’s ears because it can easily injure them or pack the discharge in deeper.

A healthy ear should look clean with little or no ear wax, and it should not have a bad odor.  Air circulation is also important to keep your dogs ears healthy.  The dogs that have the most ear problems are those with floppy ears.  Whether your dog has straight or floppy ears do not get water into the ears when you bath them.  After a bath use an ear cleaner that claims to “dry the ear canal” in case water did get into their ear.

Weekly Creature Tip 4/21/12

This week’s creature tip on cats is titled, “Cat Litter”

Weekly Bible Verse: 1 Corinthians 15:39 All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds.

I love this verse because it defies evolution. One of the things that evolution proposes is that man came from animals.  It is difficult to believe in both evolution and the Biblical account of creation; you can’t mix creation and evolution.  If you believe in creation by God, you can’t accept evolution theories because they contradict the Bible.  This does not mean that we can treat people that believe in evolution with unkindness, it just means that we don’t believe or accept it.

Believe it or not, some cats can be trained to use an actual toilet.  Yes, I tried to train my two kitties to use the toilet.  My male cat was making great progress, but not my female so I gave it up.  For me, and all the other people out there that have cats that refuse to sit on the toilet, cat litter is a great substitution!  They make some great cat boxes out there. One litter box in particular hooks up to your toilet and washes a specially designed litter, clean of your cat’s wastes after every use.

If you are like me and use a good old fashion box to hold your cat’s litter, then here are a few good tips to know.  Clumping litter is the one of the best, if you haven’t figured it out already.  This litter does what it says; it clumps the urine together making it easy to scoop out of the box.  “Scoop Away” is my favorite brand and I like to buy it at Costco because it is cheaper.  I have used “Fresh Step” and “Tidy Cats” but I still like “Scoop Away” because, in my opinion, it reduces the smell the best.  Always scoop the cat box out daily (or more frequently).  Change the box completely when it gets smelly or as directed on the litter container/bag.

What cat litter is your favorite and why?  Please post a comment!

Weekly Creature Tip 4/14/12

This week’s creature tip is on birds titled “Taming your Bird”

Weekly Bible Verse: Ecclesiastes 10:20 Do not curse the king, even in your thought; Do not curse the rich, even in your bedroom; For a bird of the air may carry your voice, And a bird in flight may tell the matter.

This verse is saying, you should not say bad things behind people’s backs as word often gets back to that person.

In order to tame a bird you must have plenty of time to spend with the bird and you need to be consistent.  Younger birds often tame faster and, of course, hand fed babies are easiest. 

Some birds are practically impossible to tame, like older birds or birds that have been used for breeding.  To start taming your bird you will want to house it in its own cage away from other birds so that the bird will bond with you.  If your bird has lived several years with another bird it may be too stressful on them to be separated.  I would suggest leaving them together and not attempt to tame them, but you could try without separating them.  Also, it is very important that your bird does not have a mirror if you plan on taming them.  While mirrors are great for lonely or single birds, they are bad if you want to tame the bird.  Often a bird will to bond with their refection in the mirror thinking it is another bird.

Getting a bird use to your hand is obviously very important.  You can start by offering your bird their favorite treat.  Offer the treat to your bird, using your hand, on the outside of the cage, through the bars.  If the bird takes the treat, great!  If not, place a small dish on the inside of the cage next to the bird’s perch.  Offer it again and if the bird will not take it, drop the treat in the dish.  After a few days (or a few weeks), the bird will take the food from your hand and you will no longer need to drop it in the dish.  Next, reach your hand into the cage and offering the treat to your bird.  Once the bird takes the food from you this way, see if you can get the bird to come to the cage door to take the treat from your hand.  The next step is to offer a treat at the cage door with one hand, and place your other hand between the bird and the treat.  Use your index finger (or your whole hand if it is a big bird), gently press it against the bird right above the feet and say “step up”.  It may take a few tries but the bird will eventually step on your finger/hand to reach the treat in your opposite hand.  There are many different methods and techniques for taming birds.  My best advice is to read up on them and try a few different ones to see what works best for your bird.