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Flexible bend, bright incandescent bulb, no need to touch the eggs. Easy to reach the eggs in the nest by bending the wand to reach the eggs. Infertile eggs can be removed so fertile eggs will receive full incubation, and will not have birds sitting on eggs that are not fertile.

Agent S: I would be more than happy to help sit on the eggs

14 oz

(Package) USD$31.25

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By Ashley Gallagher, DVM

Choosing what to feed your dog can be an overwhelming decision. Pet food stores are packed with row after row of different brands of food all containing clever marketing slogans to convince you they are the best for your dog. Many of these dog foods boast about containing extremely high levels of protein that claim to satisfy your dog’s instinctual need for meat as well as make them healthier and live longer.

Are Dogs Carnivores?

Marketing tactics by some pet food companies have fueled a common misconception among pet owners that dogs are obligate carnivores and require a diet that consists mostly of meat. This is not true. Dogs, like people, are omnivores and do best with a balanced diet of protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Excessive protein consumption is unnecessary for dogs at best and for some dogs with medical conditions can actually be harmful.

Proteins are the building blocks of the body and an absolute necessity for daily function. However, when a dog consumes too much protein in a meal it cannot all be utilized at one time, nor can it be stored for later. The body will then excrete the excess protein through the kidneys and out of the body via urine. Thus the quality of the protein actually becomes more important than the actual amount as a high quality protein is more bioavailable and can be better absorbed by the body. 

Another issue is that the meat in these diets acting as the protein source contains other nutrients that you do not want in excessive amounts. For example, when a diet is mostly meat it becomes very difficult to maintain a proper calcium-phosphorus ratio. When this ratio is out of balance disruptions in bone growth or kidney damage can occur. Well formulated dog foods have an appropriate balance of protein, fat, and carbohydrates to prevent this from happening.

Is Excessive Protein in Dog Food Bad for My Pet?

Protein is a calorie dense nutrient and many of the high protein diets are extremely high in calories and can quickly lead to weight gain. With over 50% of dogs in the U.S. considered overweight or obese, dog owners need to be aware of where those extra calories are hiding. If a dog has kidney or liver issues consuming too much protein can increase the workload on these organs and upset the balance of nutrients leading to exacerbation of disease.

Rather than look for a dog food that contains excessive levels of protein you should find one that is specifically formulated for your dog’s lifestyle, life stage, and size. A working sled dog, for example, will have significantly different nutrient and caloric requirements than the average pet dog that ventures outside for a few walks a day and spends the rest of the time lounging. These two dogs should not be fed the same diet.

Puppies, meanwhile, require more protein than adult dogs because their bodies are busy growing. Among breeds of puppies there are different requirements for nutrients as well. For instance large breed puppies like Labrador retrievers need a much different diet than a Yorkie for optimal growth. Feeding large breed puppies something that is too high in protein may make them put on weight too quickly causing abnormal joint development and making them more prone to issues like arthritis in the future.

The safest diets are those that have been developed by pet food companies that invest in scientific research, consult with veterinary nutritionists, and perform feeding trials to develop their diets. This will provide a pet food that is properly balanced without any excess nutrients that are unnecessary and in some cases harmful for your dog. 

One of the nice things about diagnosing bladder stones (uroliths) in cats is that the three main types are amenable to prevention, and sometimes even treatment, through diet.

Bladder stones are a collection of minerals and other materials that coalesce over time and can grow to astounding sizes and/or numbers. Cats with bladder stones typically have some or all of the following symptoms:

Urinating outside the litter box

Straining to urinate

Having to “go” frequently but producing little urine at any one time

Discolored urine

Licking around the urinary opening

Male cats are at risk for becoming “blocked” if a stone or sludge prevents the free flow of urine through the urethra. This is a life threatening emergency that needs to be dealt with immediately; in other words, not when your regular vet opens in the morning.

A diagnosis of bladder stones can usually be made through some combination of a urinalysis, X-rays, and ultrasound. According to the Minnesota Urolith Center (the lab that most vets use to analyze stones removed from their patients), 45% of the samples they receive from cats are struvite stones, 43% are calcium oxalate stones, and 5% are made out of urates.

Struvite stones are the easiest to treat. They can be dissolved and/or prevented by feeding a diet that is low in phosphorus and magnesium and promotes the formation of acidic urine (a pH between 6.2 and 6.4 is ideal).

Calcium oxalate stones have to be removed surgically or through other procedures like lithotripsy (breaking up the stones with ultrasonic shock waves until they are small enough to pass), but their return can be prevented (or at least delayed) through dietary means. Recommendations include avoiding foods and supplements that are high in calcium and oxalates, and promoting a urinary pH of higher than 6.2.

 Like calcium oxalate stones, those made of urates need to be physically removed via surgery or other procedures, but then dietary modifications can play a role in preventing their return. Goals include reducing dietary purine levels by feeding foods that are not overly high in protein and ensuring that the protein that is present is of the highest quality and producing a urinary pH of 6.6 or higher.

For all three types of stones, encouraging water intake by feeding canned food only and even mixing a little extra water in to bring the cat’s urine specific gravity to 1.030 or below is also very helpful. Dilute urine helps to keep minerals in solution rather than precipitating and forming stones.

Several different pet food manufacturers make commercially available diets that meet these parameters. Your veterinarian can make appropriate recommendations; some will even provide “sampler packs” so owners can easily figure out which type of food their cat likes best. Home cooked foods are also a possibility, so long as they are prepared based on recipes designed by a veterinary nutritionist who is familiar with the particulars of a cat’s case. When dietary manipulation alone is insufficient, medications (e.g., methionine and ammonium chloride to reduce urinary pH or potassium citrate to raise it) can be added to the mix.

 -Dr. Jennifer Coates for PetMD

Four million pets go missing each year. Like an Amber Alert system, PiP sends out a photo to local shelters, vets, and other pet owners, and even better, knows if someone finds a match.

There are already several ways of identifying your pets. But tags, tattoos, and microchips all have their drawbacks, according to Philip Rooyakkers, an entrepreneur from Vancouver. Tags fall off. Tattoos get rubbed off. Microchips move around an animal's body, making detection difficult.

Rooyakkers's alternative is like something out of the movie Minority Report: a facial recognition system, called PiP, that minutely records, classifies, and categorizes every feature of a dog's or cat's appearance.

To use PiP on your unsuspecting pet, you download the app, take a picture, and enter some basic details. If Fido ever goes missing, you can send out an alert to vet clinics, animal shelters, municipal control agents, and fellow PiP subscribers within a 15-mile radius. If someone finds an animal, they can upload the picture, initiating a matching process.

If you think missing pets a trifling matter, consider this: Up to 4 million domestic animals go missing every year, according to the American Humane Society. And only a very small proportion--2% in the case of cats--ever make it home again. That means the animals are either ending up in rescue centers, or, more likely, kill shelters. Rooyakkers, who owns a big animal care facility in Vancouver, reckons about half of all animals are euthanized every year.

PiP was developed from scratch by 15-year facial recognition technology veteran Daesik Jang, and Rooyakkers claims it's actually more sophisticated than systems used for humans. "Humans have very standard faces," he says. "For the most part, we know where the eyes, nose, and mouth should be. With pets, you have a huge variation--anything from the shape of nose to the overall shape of the skull."

That makes the basic task more difficult, but PiP makes an effort. Using algorithms to classify characteristics and look for patterns, it weights each animal on a scale, and keeps learning as new pets are added by users. Rooyakkers claims a 98% identification accuracy rate during trials.

The iOS app goes on sale in the Apple store at the beginning of November and is free to download. But to register a pet, owners need to pay $1.59 a month, or 18.99 for a year.

That may sound like a lot, compared to, say, the price of a Petsmart tag or a simple chip. But Rooyakkers argues that, as a smartphone-based service, PiP is more universal and open-access than other methods--at least potentially.

"There are different standards for chips and no centralized database. We're putting the technology back into people's hands, so it eases everything and lessens the number of the pets that are out there," he says.

Story Credit: Fast Co Exist