#pet welfare

[chrisstoddard-championofpet]

Chris Stoddard - Champion of Pet Welfare through My Pet Matters

Chris Stoddard is the founder of My Pet Matters, a charitable organisation dedicated to improving the lives of pets and their owners through education, assistance, and advocacy. My Pet Matters focuses on fundraising efforts to support animal shelters and rescue centres across the UK. Through various initiatives such as prize draws, events, and campaigns, the organisation raises funds to provide essential resources and supplies for animal shelters. Chris Stoddard, a devoted animal enthusiast and advocate, leads these efforts, aiming to enhance pet welfare and promote responsible pet ownership. The organisation offers workshops, seminars, and online materials to equip pet owners with vital insights into pet health, behaviour, nutrition, and more. Visit: https://www.chrisstoddard.co.uk/category/my-pet-matters/

[arcinox]

These kitties need a little help!

This GoFundMe has been set up by a friend of mine who's kindly housed three kittens on behalf of their original owner. They need a little financial aid to get them all neutered and cover their normal, early meds.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, no matter how small! If you can't help now, please could you help us spread the word?

Thank you! ♥

[kids-worldfun]

5 Tips for Responsible Pet Ownership in Family Settings

Every home needs that special touch, a fluffy (or not so fluffy) companion who makes our hearts flutter with their innocence. But how do we ensure that our tail-wagging companions experience the same joy they bring into our lives? This guide will lead you through five fundamental tips that every family should follow to create a loving and nurturing environment for their pets. From adopting the…

[allperfectpets]

The Ultimate Guide to Buying and Keeping Pet Fish

Looking for a pet that's low maintenance, calming, and beautiful? Look no further than fish! Fish are the perfect pets for many reasons, from their beautiful colors to their relaxing presence. Plus, owning fish has even been linked to improving stress levels! In this article, we'll go over everything you need to know about getting pet fish, including what type of fish to choose, how to set up their tank, and how to care for them.

[furrista]

The Furrista Approach to Pet Welfare

Pet welfare is a crucial aspect of animal care, and it’s essential to ensure that our furry friends are treated with love and respect. Whether it’s through providing proper nutrition, exercise, and medical care, or by advocating for animal rights. There are many ways through which FURRISTA can guide the pet parents about pet welfare and make a positive impact in the lives of their fur babies. pet…

[leoparduscolocola]

it’s honestly scary seeing how popular raw feeding for cats and dogs is becoming. for so long dogs and cats weren’t coming down with nutrient deficiencies because of commercially available pet food and now they’re making a comeback, plus people have literally died from the diseases transferred by raw feeding… it’s not surprising, though, that raw feeding is growing in popularity considering how popular anti-science movements for humans are right now too. like you can literally go into a pet store and see signs plastered all over claiming that raw is the best when there’s not a shred of evidence for that. it’s so ironic that pet store employees will tell you that the eVil vEtS iN bEd WiTh BiG kiBbLe only recommend a certain food because they get paid to do so and then in the very next breath recommend an obscenely expensive raw food that obviously gives the store a pretty big profit margin. i get why people might not trust the pet food industry but you don’t have to feed raw, you can hire an actual veterinary nutritionist (not just some raw guru online with a “nutrition certificate”) to formulate a homecooked recipe for you

[normal-newt]

Wildlife rescue organisations here have very intense politics. Like, if you criticize any organisations’ practices you can end up being “locked out” of even unpaid positions in all of them. Which is why this is going safely under a username and not anywhere near my actual one. But it’s so frustrating watching everyone making the same mistakes over and over again.

So some baby animal can’t be released, and it’s decided that they will be used as an education/ ambassador animal. Because of this, they don’t need to be raised to avoid humans. But some people think that this means they should be treated like human children. One organisation literally started splitting up captive-born joeys from wild but un-release-able kangaroos specifically to raise so that when they grew up they would “think they were human”. And for the first year or two it goes great. They want to snuggle with everyone who will look at them, they play with people, and they are just unbearably cute. And people aww about it and say that they really do think they’re human. 

When they start to reach sexual maturity, they start “acting up”. People get kicked and scratched and they start to realise that their “child” isn’t acting so snuggly anymore, and they get angry. And the kangaroos have no fucking idea why, because they can’t know that they’re play wrestling is strong enough to hurt us. Because it turns out they don’t think they’re human, but they certainly seem to think we’re kangaroos.

And by the time they’re old enough to start fighting for real, it’s already too late to do anything about it. You can’t let visitors anywhere near them for safety reasons. 90% of the staff and volunteers won’t go in to clean the enclosures, and a lot of them still blame the animals. Some animals are so risky to work with that feeding them takes two people in the enclosure and one person acting as a “spotter”. There is no PPE for this, so people end up using plastic buckets as shields.

Anyway I’m mostly just yelling at the void, but if anyone reading this was wondering why a lot of zoos and wildlife rescues don’t cuddle the baby animals. it’s because of this sort of thing. There are a lot of really good ways to make sure baby animals feel comfortable and safe, but handling them too much usually either scares them, or means that they could seriously injure someone down the track.

It’s also why so many people who’ve worked with animals are so strongly against people owning certain types of exotic pets. If someone is telling you not to get a pet serval or kangaroo or whatever else people are keeping in their living rooms, there’s a good chance they’re trying to stop you getting mauled.

[rebeccathenaturalist]

Unsurprisingly, a lot of the commentary I'm seeing about this has been of the "But--but--I would do the same thing because I don't want anything bad to happen to the deer!"

Look. I love wildlife, and I love getting to see deer, coyotes, and even the occasional black bear in my neighborhood. But they are here because there is good habitat nearby with lots of natural food sources, not because I deliberately put out food for them to eat. I respect them as wild animals with whom my relationship is very different compared to the domesticated animals I take care of every day. A deer is not a sheep or a horse; a coyote is not a dog.

People who do things like try to tame deer or, worse yet, try to raise a fawn or other young wildlife like pets are robbing those wild animals of their natural existences. We've already wrought our own preferences on the landscape to a severe degree, tearing the wildness out of it to create lawns and farms and subdivisions and strip malls. When we then dismiss the wildness of these animals and impress our own desire for connection on our terms on them, we are harming them.

I've already written elsewhere about the difference between "tame" and "domesticated". No matter how docile that deer seems, it is never going to be as (relatively) safe and tractable as a domesticated sheep or goat. It will always be more unpredictable, and more likely to lash out suddenly at a person due to fear, or hormones, or protection of young.

These animals need their wild instincts to be intact if they are going to survive without being dependent on us. They need those instincts in order to find mates and keep the gene pool stirred up. Their instincts keep them safe from danger, including humans. And their instincts never totally go away, no matter how much we may try to tame them otherwise.

This is why a good wildlife rehab is going to minimize handling of the wild animals they care for, especially those that are going to be able to be released back into the wild. The less comfortable these animals are with humans, the better their chances of surviving in the wild and having fulfilling, natural lives. Wildlife that retain their wariness of humans are less likely to end up falling prey to hunting, or being killed as nuisance animals when they get too aggressive in seeking food or otherwise coming into conflict with people.

The person who painted "pet" on a fully grown white-tailed buck and put a collar around his neck may have felt like they were doing that deer a kindness, but they have likely robbed him of the chance to just live a natural life as his own, independent being out in the woods and fields. He might be out there, sure, but perhaps he won't mate because he imprinted on humans. Or maybe he will end up shot by a hunter in spite of the precautions because he's just too friendly and those antlers are worth taking the shot.

There will always be something missing from this deer's life because of the arrogance of someone who thought they could own and keep and control a wild-born animal for their own enjoyment, instead of allowing him to come and go as he pleased. Honestly, it reminds me of King Haggard from Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn, whose response to seeing something beautiful was to capture it and keep it rather than simply enjoying and remembering that magical moment:

"I like to watch them. They fill me with joy. The first I felt it I thought I was going to die. I said to the Red Bull I must have them, all of them, all there are. For nothing makes me happy but their shining and their grace. So the Red Bull caught them. Each time I see the unicorns, my unicorns, it is like that morning in the woods and I am truly young, in spite of myself."

That's how I feel about people who are willing to drastically alter a wild animal's behavior for their own selfish benefit, even if they think they're being kind. I know I'm fighting a bit of an uphill battle in this, but I'm rather stubborn that way.

[typhlonectes]

[petsync]

Every time I try to take a nap, my cat suddenly becomes the most active creature in the world, jumping around and knocking things over. It's like she knows!

Here you will find the best videos about cats and dogs

[marblemartian]

to anyone looking to get a ball python:

please either rescue or adopt. the saturation is fucking Insane and giving more money to breeders who have Hundreds of these snakes in itty bitty barren racks their entire lives only perpetuates the suffering of innocent snakes. the practice is no better than that of puppy mills more often than not.

thats not to mention the number of surrendered ball pythons is insanely high BECAUSE of this over-saturation. first time pet people go to expos, bring home a snake they dont know how to care for, get bored of it and surrender it. those snakes deserve love.

if you do decide to purchase from a breeder, please make sure theyre a small scale breeder with proper husbandry practices and actual enrichment for their snakes.

make sure you meet their breeder snakes, that theyre in good health, and ask for photos of their enclosures. they dont have to be giant terrariums, just enough for them to Actually move and stimulate their brain and allow thermoregulation. so many Large ball python breeders have a bin that is large enough for the snake to sit there. thats IT.

[allthecanadianpolitics]

A ban on four cosmetic surgeries for pets came into effect in Quebec today, putting an end to vocal cord removal, ear cropping, tail trimming and cat declawing for aesthetic purposes. Veterinarians say the non-essential procedures unduly expose animals to risks associated with anesthesia and can lead to behavioural issues. The Quebec regulation still allows veterinarians to recommend the surgeries for medical therapeutic purposes, and it makes an exception for the ear cropping of stray cats in authorized capture, sterilize and release programs.

Continue Reading

Tagging @politicsofcanada

[local-hellhound-steals-spaghetti]

Random people on the Moo Deng post: “OP is just saying Moo Deng’s handling is bad because they’re racist, they hate other countries and think America is better!!!”

Me, an Australian, who has lived in multiple other countries and worked in facilities in the Asia Pacific and regularly posts about signs of positive welfare and examples of good animal husbandry in facilities like Chimelong (China) and Kamagowa (Japan) and supports any form of good animal husbandry no matter the country: 🧍‍♀️

[great-and-small]

Big yikes at this Reddit post I saw. Morbidly obese (not pregnant) ring-tailed lemur sitting in a shopping cart at Winn-Dixie should set off all kinds of red flags to you. Apparently the owner said this poor fellow is a “rescue” but no reputable primate rescue would casually push a lemur around in a shopping cart in a public place.

Lemurs are the worlds most endangered group of mammals and they absolutely do not make even remotely good pets. Posts like these can make people think otherwise but I promise you no lemur is going to thrive in this kind of lifestyle.

[orcinus-veterinarius]

we always complain, rightfully, about people who don't keep their cats indoors or under control outdoors (with a catio, a properly secluded area, a harness) but I think we don't talk enough about a type of people that's just as dangerous for the ecosystem in general, even if their intentions are good : people who feed stray cats. People need to stop feeding random cats they're not willing to adopt. It's not said enough imo, feeding feral cats is too accepted still...

Yeah… unfortunately it’s true. And I know people feed strays out of the goodness of their hearts. But what the cats ultimately need is not just food, they need to be off the streets.

A local humane society I follow posted something recently that made me cringe so badly. It was an “appreciation post” for “community cats.” Apparently free-roaming cats can live “happy, fulfilling lives” if they’re only TNR’d. Guys… that’s not true.