Owning a pet is one of the coolest things one could think of, as they bring comfort to you, act as your personal companion, emotionally they help reduce depression, anxiety, decrease your exposure if having a stroke, they also help to lower pain, and help people socialise.
So now you know owning a pet can be pretty awesome when one thinks of the benefits, but today we talk about how to care for your pet, what to feed them and what not to feed them.
1. Dogs
It’s pretty hard to resist those puppy eyes, especially when they are begging for that thing, well no matter how adorable your canine might look, or how badly you want to spoil him/her with human food, know this most of these human food is bad for your dog.
Raw meat and fishes
Ever heard of salmonella and E.coli? Salmonella is an infection found in dogs that causes diarrhoea, or can lead to other more serious symptoms, some dogs after being infected might not show the signs or symptoms, but they just become automatic carriers. Below are some of its symptoms
Diarrhoea
Sometimes he/she would have mucus in the stool, Lethargy, Swollen lymph nodes, Dehydration, Increased heart rate, Fever, Loss of appetite or anorexia, Vomiting, Depression, Skin disease, Shock, Miscarriage in pregnant dogs.
Escherichia coli
It’s a bacteria found in dogs intestines and another mammal. Usually, this bacteria posses no real life treats, but when it highly concentrated, then there’s a problem.
It has almost same symptoms as salmonella above, but only a few would be mentioned here, Bluish colour in the gums, nostrils, ears, lips, or anus due to lack of oxygenation in red blood cells, Cold skin or low body temperature, Weakness or lethargy, Rapid heart rate.
These two bad boys can be gotten from eating raw and uncooked meat or fish, so it’s advisable to feed your little pets with good well-cooked meat or fish.
Chocolate
When we say foods that are harmful to your dogs, chocolate is more like a toxin to your sweet little canine, as it can cause diarrhoea, make them vomit, or in a worse case, tremor, seizure and even death, so keep the sweets to yourself, please.
2. Fish
One thing you definitely should avoid when feeding your fish is fat, as fat as low as 3% could cause serious damages to the fish’s heart. So reduce the feeding of beef, pork, even scraps from chicken.
Fish poisoning could be caused by other factors too, out of our negligence, we disinfect our home, cooking smokes, paint fumes, cleaning fumes, and this can lead to the death of your fish, so we need to be careful when cleaning our homes with chemicals.
3. Cats
Apart from dogs, cats are also wonderful sets of pets to own in the house. Same as dogs some human food are toxic for them
Chocolate
Obromine and caffeine are not good for your cats, and these two are usually found in chocolates. Keep your babies safe by keeping your chocolate away from their reach.
Alcohol
A little as a tablespoon could give cat brain damage or liver damage.
Milk and Cheese
Many of us would be surprised seeing this on the list, well diary product are actually bad for your cats, as many cats a lactose intolerant, and thus could cause diarrhea for your cats.
4. Canaries
Vegetable is a good meal for your canary, but not all vegetable is ideal for them, vegetable with high content of water in it should be avoided.
Celery, iceberg lettuce, onions. These veggies have a high level of water concentration in them, and so should be avoided. Cakes, cookies, bread, are all fatty food that could make your canary go fat, stay clear off fatty foods for their sake.
Some foods are not just ideal caffeine, Chocolate, mushrooms, salt, candy; these would just cause havoc to your canaries. Tomato, Chinese pea pods, apple seed, avocados are also termed “avoidable” for your canaries.
5. Rabbits
Bunnies are one of the cutest pet one should own, they have a good digestive system, and a specialised way of processing fibres and adapting to various environments. Taking these into consideration, it’s advisable for rabbit owners to be cautious of the food they feed to their animals.
Avocado
Veggies are good food for rabbits, but when getting veggies, do not include Avocado in it, this fatty fruit harmful if ingested by rabbits.
Iceberg Lettuce
Lactucarium is a chemical that is poisonous to the health of your bunny, and this chemical is found in iceberg lettuce. Bread, Pasta, cookies, all sugar.
According to Wikipedia, Enterotoxemia is a condition induced by the absorption of large volumes of toxins produced by Clostridium perfringens from the intestines. So if you don’t want your rabbits going through all these sorts just avoid all kinds of sweet.
Oatmeal
This isn’t really harmful to rabbits, just that it doesn’t add anything to their nutritional cycle, why spend money to feed them food that adds zero nutrient to them?.
6. Turtle
Underneath the shell lies a mammal that requires enough calcium. Rhubarb, chard, spinach, beetsSpinach. These contains oxalic acid which blocks the intake of calcium, and you do not want your beloved turtle looking Popeye, so avoid spinach.
All they do is make your turtle calcium deficient, thereby making it’s shell soft.
Mushrooms and Beans
They add no nutritional value to your turtle, all they do is inflict more harm than a good example of what they cause is gout (An extremely painful inflammation of joints).
Iceberg lettuce, and celery. They both add little or no value to your turtle.
7. Gerbils
Alcohol would kill your gerbil, a little drop of it is enough to kill your gerbil, so avoid it.
Chocolate is bad for most animals gerbil is not an exception, avoid feeding it to them.
Tea and Caffeine
This small animal is already fast enough, so it doesn’t need substances to give an extra boost, as such caffeine and tea should be avoided.
Fruits
Citrus fruits should be avoided for them, such as oranges, lemons, tangerines, limes or grapefruit.
Uncooked Egg
They can contain salmonella in them since it’s uncooked, it increases the chances of being infected by bacteria.
So do you have a pet at home? What kind of food did you give them, that me them react in ways, or that made you take them to the vet. please leave your comments guys.
