Tails Blog

Many dogs suffer daily with anxiety. Fear of thunder, separation anxiety, car or travel anxiety. Dogs react to stress and change just like we do, the list goes on. 

How do I know if my dog is suffering with anxiety?
Your dog can't tell you why they are anxious, but you can be sure they will express stress and anxiety in their day to day behaviour. So your looking at your dogs body language and behaviour. 

For example the body language of fear might include:

*The tail tucked under their bottom
*Ears back flat against the head
*Head lowered with cowering type behaviour
*Frequent licking of lips
*Nervous behaviour and frequent yawning
*Body shivering 

Examples of separation anxiety might include:

*Whining
*Pacing
*Excessive drooling
*Defecating
*Urinating
*Barking, howling
*Chewing of furniture and property
*A generally depressed or withdrawn nature

What can be done to help alleviate my dogs stress and discomfort?

One method of soothing and calming anxiety in dogs is the use of pressure or anxiety wraps. Wrapping is similar to swaddling an infant and uses a technique called maintained pressure. The wrap provides constant, gentle pressure to your dogs torso and chest. This has been found to work as an effective alternative to anti depressant drug therapy.    

Tails is please to offer the Thundershirt as an effective, drug free, alternative treatment for anxiety in dogs. They are available in sizes to suit your dog.

Click here to learn more about the thundershirt

Bees probably evolved at the same time as flowering plants. This means that there have been bees for at least 135 million years.

Bees that we see working among the summer flowers are collecting nectar and pollen.The bee will land on a flower and push it's long tube shaped jaws down inside it. Then the bee extracts sweet nectar using its proboscis or tongue. The nectar is carried in a honey sac inside the bees body.

Bees collect pollen almost without trying. While it is extracting nectar, grains of pollen from the anther of the flower stick to its furry body and legs. The bee will comb the pollen off its body and press it into pollen baskets on its legs.

As the bee moves from one flower to the next, any grains of pollen still clinging to its body rub off on to the stigma of the new flower and pollination occurs.The bee will visit hundreds of flowers to fill its honey sac and the contents of sixty honey sac's produce only a thimbleful of honey.

When the bee gets back to the hive with its load of pollen and nectar, it is met by a hive worker bee. The forager bee regurgitates the nectar and the worker bee swallows it. Digestive enzymes inside the worker bee's stomach change the nectar into watery honey. The bee then regurgitates tiny drops of this watery honey on to the tip of its tongue. The warmth of the hive will evaporates it. The end result is honey which we all know and love.

The modern hive has several layers. Frames are provided for the bee's to make combs in. Often the frames in the top section are where honey is harvested from. The bottom section is the brood chamber, where combs are made for the hives eggs, that later become larve. The queen lives in this chamber. A grid above the brood chamber prevents the queen from entering and laying her eggs in the top chamber. 

Thanks to www.tokresourse for the above picture.

Harvest time

Harvest usually happens at the end of summer when the honey combs are at their fullest. The bee's use stored honey during the winter months for food when there are no flowers to collect nectar from. Centrifugal force is required to easily extract the honey from the combs.

So it's not hard to appreciate all the effort that goes into producing one of our favourite foods. Harvesting honey is an ancient pastime. Evidence of organised bee keeping exists on rocks paintings of mesolithic cave dwellers. Our connection with the humble bee is understated. The honey we spread on our toast in the morning is just the beginning.

For many parrot lovers, teaching their pet to speak is more than a novelty its an obsession. If your keen, and you have the time and patience, you can teach many parrot breeds to mimic your favourite sound, word or verse. 

Just be careful what you teach them.

Getting started
Be patient!! Be very patient

Let the bird sit on your hand in a quiet room.

While looking into the eyes of your parrot repeat it's name over and over again in a slow clear voice.

If the bird tries to say it's name, reward it with it's favourite treat and use praise.

You will need to be prepared to teach your parrot at least twice a day for 5 to 10 minutes every day. Some people believe birds learn groups of words faster than single words. Patience and repetition are real keys to success. Don't be surprised if it takes 6 months for your pet to say a single word. 

It really does't matter how big your fish tank is or what you plan to keep, the condition of the water in your fish tank is often the difference between success and failure.

Why can't I add fish to my fresh clean water?

When you set up an aquarium for the first time, it's important that you age the water you intend to use in the tank before adding fish. Failure to do so will almost certainly end badly for your fish. 

What does it mean to age the water?

You will need to allow at least a week ( but it may take 10 to 14 days) between filling the tank and adding fish, during which time the filter system will develop a population of bacteria necessary for biological filtration. At some stage during this period a very high nitrite level will occur; when nitrates return to zero after this peak it will be safe to introduce fish.

So these bacteria are actually good for my fish?!

Yes, your tank water becomes polluted from fish waste, decomposing left over food and plant material. Ammonia is a by product of this process. The good bacteria convert the ammonia in tank water, to nitrites and then into less toxic nitrates. Nitrates are consumed by any plants in your tank and the water is made safe for your fish.

Can I speed up the process?

You can buy additives which speed the maturation process, but always monitor the nitrite levels with a test kit rather than relying on time estimates on the container. An alternative solution is to obtain a couple of handfuls of substrate from a mature disease free tank, which can be sprinkled on to your substrate to act as a bacterial starter culture. Likewise an active filter can be transferred to a new tank. 

Test the waters

It's a really good idea to regularly test the ammonia levels of your tank water. This doesn't have to be expensive or time consuming. Click on the device above to learn more about an easy to read stick on ammonia monitor.

Rabbits

Before you bring your rabbit home, you will need to get some basic supplies, such as a hutch where they nest, an enclosure where they can exercise, a carry box for transportation, bedding, food and water bottle. These are important basic requirements.

Clipper Caymen Pet Carrier

Hay for bedding and food

 Food

 Waterer

Bring your new rabbit home

When you bring your new rabbit home for the first time they will likely be a bit nervous, but they will settle in time, so be patient. Put the time in, earn their trust. You might try lying on the floor in a rabbit safe room. Your rabbit will find you less of a threat if you sit or lie down next to him.

Training 
Your rabbit can be taught to use a litter tray and to come when you call. If you put the time in you might be surprised what can be achieved. Use treats as encouragement. 

Rabbit food
Rabbits are grazers, so they eat little, but they eat often. You should try to vary your rabbits diet occasionally to keep it interesting. So offer them a bit of variety in their fresh veg.  

What should I feed my rabbit?
Always offer fresh clean hay and grasses, this should make up the bulk of what they eat. Make sure their water bottle is full and that it works. Give your rabbit a bowl of pellets in the morning. In the early evening - before it gets dark offer them fresh vegetables.

Cleaning

Keep your rabbit and it's hutch clean! It might be a chore, but keeping your rabbit's hutch clean and your rabbit groomed is important for it's health and happiness. The time you spend grooming your pet will enhance the bond you share with your rabbit.

Keeping Horses

Keeping Chickens

Keeping Kunekune Pigs

Keeping Fresh Water Crayfish

Monarch Butterfly Life Cycle

Keeping an Axolotl

Treating worms in dogs

Fleas are wingless insects, with tough shiny laterally flattened bodies covered in bristles, making it easy for them to move between the hairs on the back of your dog. 

Flea Bite
Adult fleas mouths are modified for sucking blood from their hosts. The itch a bite inflicts is a reaction from the fleas saliva. A flea can survive for a long period of time without feeding, even up to a year. Both males and females suck blood, and it is only after their first feed that they can reproduce. 

Flea Egg
Fleas undergo complete metamorphosis. Females lay their eggs on your dog, or perhaps the eggs fall onto your carpet from off your dog. One flea can lay 50 tiny sticky white eggs a day, which hatch into bristly whitish thread like maggots called larva. Larva are scavengers that feed on the hosts dried blood, dead skin, or the excrement of adult fleas.

Flea Larva
In the pupal phase the larva is enclosed in a silk like cocoon where an adult flea is fully developed and ready to emerge. They are encouraged to emerge  when they receive a signal that a potential host is near. This might be in the form of vibrations including sound, body heat, or carbon dioxide.

Flea Pupae

Many fleas carry parasites like tapeworm and diseases, as the rat flea did in Europe in the 1300's, when one quarter of the continent's population died from bubonic plague (Black Death).

Tapeworm

Continued exposure to sunlight will kill a flea in any part of it's life cycle. 
So will Prac-tic flea treatment for dogs. Tails is pleased to announce this product is now available for sale online. Prac-tic is an effective treatment against fleas on dogs regardless of where they fit in it's life cycle. As the name suggests, Prac-tic will also guard against ticks.  

Click on the Prac-tic pack to learn more about a flea treatment to suit your dog.

Drontal worming treatment for dogs is also available and of course delivery is free!!

Planning your aquarium layout

Deciding what fish you want to display in your aquarium is an important first decision. The size of your tank and how the different species interact together will play a part in how well your display works. Many advanced aquarists keep only fish from the same region in an aquarium. 

The selection of fish and plant types has a major effect on the appearance of an aquarium. Rather than going for a two of everything approach, select a small number of fish species in larger shoals. 

Keeping and displaying plants in your aquarium.

Keeping live plants in your aquarium can add another dimension to your display. Growing your own aquarium plants is not always easy. Many people struggle with this. Good lighting is important if your plants are going to do well in your tank environment. This means;

Having plant specific light tubes on for 10 to 12 hours daily. Get a timer! regular photoperiod is important and remembering to turn the lights on and off again at the same time every day is a big ask for most people. 

Light reflectors on the hood of your tank will double the amount of light reaching the water. 

Purchase a good quality fertiliser for your plants, read and follow the instructions provided. 

Display similar plants in smaller groupings. Keep tall fast growing plants at the rear of the aquarium and low plants at the front of the tank. 

Good filtration

Buy good quality filter equipment, don't skimp on the filter. Often the filter will also be providing the water circulation and aeration, and both of these are vital to the success of your aquarium. Ideally your filter will turn over the entire volume of water in your tank at least four times an hour. 

Every fish keepers hate!

Algae, it's a challenge for many keepers who take pride in the appearance of their pristine tanks. Actually algae control in aquaria can be made easier. 

Rapidly growing plants suppress the growth of algae in your tank. You can't reduce the light or the nutrients you have added to make the plants grow, so make sure you have plenty of plants. 

You may decide to add a few algae eating fish to your tank. 

You also have at your disposal biological additives. These consume waste, suppress algae and help prevent fish disease. The trick is to use them regularly, not just every once in a while.

Final advice

Do the basics well: do partial water changes, clean the filter, trim the plants and clean the glass regularly.