Natural Reality Check

Sustainable Pet Ownership

Originally, this was going to be an entry about water management. But since I need to do more research before I shoot my mouth off, I'd like to talk about something else vital.

Since the early days of humanity, our species has practiced this habit of keeping other animals for various purposes. Today I'm going to be talking about those that are kept solely for companionship or as status symbols. More commonly known as pets.

While I am not a veterinarian or a member of any animal rights group, I do believe it is important for us to take responsibility for our animals and not neglect them. That said, I haven't always been the best animal guardian. And I now repent of my carelessness. If ever own any type of animal, I will follow the advice I give here.

Exotic Animals

So I am going to be emphatic and some may not agree with this. Do not keep big wild animals as pets! Period. That includes big cats, wild cats of any size, great apes, parrots, cockatoos, alligators or crocodiles, large fish you didn't buy at a pet store, and any sort of not domesticated animal not mentioned above.

Believe it or not, over sixty percent of all mammals that evolved since the beginning of the Eocene(which is the most recent epoch of Earth's Natural History and was the current epoch until the industrial revolution.) To my mind that's extremely sad!

If it was born in the wild, it belongs in the wild. Not some tourist trap. Some animals that used to be kept as "exotic pets" have only a few hundred or less left in the wild. Conservation efforts can only do so much. Let's not cause more extinction through over collection, that's just plain inconsiderate.

That said, I am not anti zoo, aquarium or bio park. These organizations on the whole generally have missions of conservation, education and research.(not the animal testing kind, the watching them to learn more about their behaviors.) This is the only exception to the rule. Also zoos, aquariums and bio parks no longer capture their specimens from wild populations.

I'll probably talk more about them in another entry. Moving on to the next topic.

Small Animals
For the sake of brevity, this section is going to include, fish smaller than koi, rodents, rabits, turtles, non-exotic lizards, snakes, budgies, insects and spiders.(pigs might fall into this category but I don't think so, I'll talk about them in the large mammals section.)

Small animals generally live out most of their days in an enclosure. Sometimes, with the exception of fish, they get taken out for "play time". So this is the animal's home.

The most important thing to remember is that it has to be clean. The bedding material or water changed frequently and preferably not wood chips. Why not wood chips? An animal can get cut or get a splinter from chips. Most small animals hide their pain so you may not know your pet has an injury until it has a severe, life threatening infection. So, no wood chips. Straw or some other safe, soft material is better.

Another thing an animal's enclosure needs is a place to hide.this can be a hollow half log, fake rock. Safe, non-toxic, real plants. This is so your small animal feels like it has a safe place to go if it feels vulnerable or just wants left alone.

If the animal you're keeping is a fish, make sure your aquarium has a filtration system and gravel.(not soft because this is fish in water now.) this can help controll disease and helps keep the water cleaner and more oxygenated.

For anyone maintaining an aquarium, make sure to keep the pH levels, temperature and salinity balanced for the types of organisms living in the environment. So keep in mind you don't keep blue tangs in the same tank as cichlids because one is a saltwater fish and the other is freshwater. Also make sure you don't put fish that don't get along or are extremely different sizes together. Fish brains aren't complicated but they can be territorial and aren't really picky about whether it's a tank mate or flakes they eat.

One thing that mostly applies to small birds and mammals. You must provide some sort of environmental enrichment. This keeps them entertained and provides exercise to keep your pet healthy. Environmental enrichment can include a toy ball, rope toy, mirror, tube maze, or exercise wheel. Just make sure that what you put in with them is safe for them to play with. Meaning they can't swallow bits of it and get hurt or sustain other injuries.

If a small animal is social, there needs to be more than one. Animals, like people, need friends to stay happy and sane.

Assuming a pet isn't just for show.(Or, even if it is.) You must make sure it is used to being handled by people and getting into the crate for vet visits. This is critical for your safety and the veterinary team that takes care of your pet. This should begin when an animal is young because it is much harder to train an older animal to tolerate humans poking and prodding it. If you want to learn how to get an animal used to this, Youtube has some good tips or there are books and blogs that explain humane methods of training.

Last common sense piece of advice feed your pets regularly, and take them to the vet at least once a year.


Kitties and Doggies

Cats and dogs are among the most popular pets. They have been with humankind for thousands of years.(Dogs the longest but that's for another paragraph.)

Before adopting a furry four legged buddy, ask yourself some questions. Am I prepared to clean up loads of hair? Am I the sort of person who can feed an animal regularly?(some adult dogs need lots of food.) Will I be able to do regular grooming? Do I want to clean a litter box or pick up poop? Am I willing to give an animal a monthly flea and tick treatment? Can I clean up vomit or pee off my floor/other surface? Will I meet their play and exercise needs? If the answer to ANY of these questions is no, then please do yourself, your family and the whole world a big favor DO NOT adopt a cat or dog.(At least not one you can't meet the demands of) No matter how much your young child begs you! It is not fair to the animal, yourself or anyone in contact with your "pet" to adopt an animal you cannot or will not take care of.

There, I said it! It's not that I hate dog and cat owners, it's that I hate the ones who have an animal "just because."

I have another bone to pick with people. It has three parts so maybe it should be three bones.

A)buy from reputable breeders it's just more ethical. Just say no to kittens or puppies of unknown/untrained sources. That includes neighbors, friends and that dip with the "free puppies" or "kittens" sign taped to the side of their vehicle. I can guarantee that accepting an animal from one of these sources is probably going to mean health or behavioral issues if not legal trouble depending on where you live. Also that person offering "free" animals has not been a responsible pet owner and is causing a burden on the environment/humane society/ASPCA by not having their cat or dog spayed or neutered before it got to that point!

B)mixed breeds are in better health overall because they are more genetically robust. Pure bred animals are generally the result of inbreeding. As a result, pure bred dogs and cats can have aggression, behavior or health problems.(so yes it's time to put the American Kennel Club, and any other organization that touts certain "breeds" as desirable out to the bone yard and burry them like the fossils they are! That goes double for people who produce cats with any wild cat ancestry because they are breeding something humans can't handle and then when they're abandoned, they become a problem for local bird, fish and amphibian populations. Sorry if that seems extreme. Sorry if you have a pure-breed you love, you can keep loving them, just know that mixed is better.)

C)Once you own an animal such as a cat or dog, if it has not already been done and you are not a licensed breeder, spay and neuter your pet! No excuses, no exceptions. There's plenty of organizations out there to help with cost.

According to estimates, one female dog can produce 508 puppies a year. Cats are worse due to lower rearing time and many other factors. It is possible for one female cat to birth six litters a year and they sexually mature at about eight weeks so in one year a female cat has 4,000 plus descendants. Holy crap! Enough said! I'm not even going to talk about un-neutered males because, let's face it, monogamy isn't a thing for domestic cats and dogs. That means he'll have sired multiple litters with different females.

If that's not bad enough leaving their gonads in can be a risk for cancer. Big bills, lots of suffering.

Oh yeah, un neutered males of either feline or canine origin can be aggressive, smelly and really bad house mates. By neutering a male animal while it's in the first months of its life, you can avoid all the territorial markings and aggression. If you wait too long, you will be stuck with a problem animal. Or worse, the animal might have to be euthanized due to injuring themselves or another animal or person.(or you give it to a shelter and then they give it the "good night shot".)

While it's true females may have less aggression due to lower testosterone, there are other more obnoxious problems that come with being an unspayed cat.

There's a big difference between apes(such as humans) and canids and felines. See instead of going through a menstrual cycle. (Aunt Flo if we want to be prudish.) when a cat or dog's estrogen levels go up, it enters a state of increased fertility and becomes receptive to mating. This is what biologists refer to as Estrus and lay people call "heat".

Ew gross. Now why should you care? Well aside from the female spraying urine everywhere she can be quite vocal. In cats(I can't speak for dogs as I've never been around an "intact" female dog.)this takes the form of spraying, yowling and presenting herself to anyone or anything she thinks might possibly mate with her.(unfortunately, my sister in law's cat is un-spayed and has thought that I'm a male cat. I have seen more of their cat's genitals than I care to admit and I didn't want to see them in the first place.)

Some might think, what's the big deal? It's once a month right? No it is not once a month. Female cats enter Estrus every two weeks or so. If you don't spay a cat eight weeks of age(no, that's not too young, the ASPCA says that's fine) there's going to be life long problems.

So anyways, on a less graphic note, both cats and dogs should be trained to walk on a leash and accept handling by humans. This protects you, your cat or dog, the environment and anyone else you encounter outside.

I recommend anyone who owns a cat or dog to also learn about normal behavior for their chosen pet. They're not mini people, even if sometimes they think they are.

Cats and dogs hunters. Play and exercise are a must because that hunter still lives in their brains and demands satisfaction. If it isn't satisfied, it can lead to bad behavior.(chewing on non food items, being vocal for attention, etc.)

Anyways, I'm kind of running out of time! The real world demand attention. Stay tuned for part two if you can stomach any more.