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The first thing to do before you purchase a kitten is to ensure that you know where your nearest vets is as you will probably need to visit a few times, and almost certainly will need to go their when you first receive your kitten. Again before you purchase your kitten you need to visit your nearest pet shop and make sure that you pick up a kitty litter box, dishes for their dinner and water, specific kitten food, a carrier box for you to transport your new kitten to your house as well as a scratching post and some toys for it to play with. Also ensure that you purchase a collar or an tagging chip so that you can easily identify your kitten and should it stray too far from home you will be able to easily find it again.

This is the time of year when all pet owners should be thinking about what preparations they are going to be making in order to keep their pet safe and not distressed this Bonfire Night. Unlike people, animals have very sensitive hearing, they are able to hear thing that we cannot, which means they are more likely to become distressed when fireworks are let off. The main precaution to make is to keep pets that would normally be kept outside indoors so that they won’t be exposed to the very loud bangs that fireworks make. Ensure that all windows and doors are closed too and if you have a rabbit or a pet in a hutch then provide them with extra bedding to block out the majority of noise.

There was a story out in the papers the other day about how the Beckhams have been dressing up their dog in preparation for Halloween! Now I know that Halloween is a much bigger holiday in America than it is here in the UK but I do feel that painting your dogs nails and dressing them up like a pumpkin is a little bit cruel. Victoria Beckham posted an image of their dog, Coco Beckham, on Twitter, with painted pink nails which caused outrage as this was viewed by many as animal cruelty. Yesterday Victoria posted another image of Coco via her Twitter account of her dog wearing a Halloween themed collar, which seems a lot less cruel to me than painting its nails.

On the 19^th October 2010, saw a lady who viciously dumped a cat in wheelie bin was fined just £250 and banned from keeping or owning animals for 5 years. Mary Bale, a former bank worker from Coventry, was caught on CCTV after she dumped a cat into its owners wheelie bin in a totally random attack. Yesterday, Bale was fined £250 plus a £15 victim surcharge and court costs of £1,171 after pleading guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to the animal. The cat ended up being trapped in its owner’s wheelie bin for over 15 hours before its owners heard its cries and was able to rescue the cat from the bin. The RSPCA hopes that the media attention that has been generated around this case will deter others from being unnecessarily cruel to animals.

One of the many problems that owners of pets face is over feeding their animals. Often an owner will want to reward good behaviour of their pet with a treat which over several years can lead to their pet becoming over weight. It is estimated that approximately 40% of all dogs are either overweight or obese. Animals become overweight for pretty much the same reason that people do, due to over eating and not exercising enough. A lot of owners will give their dog the pet food that they are required but often the dog will receive scraps and left-over’s from the owners dinner, adding additional, unnecessary calories to the animals diet. To counter these extra calories the animal will require additional exercise or for owners to watch how much scraps they are feeding their pets.

There is a new crazy that’s sweeping America, no longer are our friends over the pond content with having miniature dogs that are kept in their handbags and dressed in clothes, the latest must-have accessory is the micro pig. This new pet measures approximately 8 inches from nose to tail and weights approximately 9 oz. at birth, about the size of a teacup. One of the advantages of owning a micro pig is that they are clean animals, highly intelligent and very loving pets. They also make good pets for people who have allergies as they have hair, not fur and skin similar to ours. They cost about £700 and celebrity fans include Paris Hilton and Harry Potter star Rupert Grint.

Having visited a pet shop over the weekend to buy my humble goldfish a new plant for its fish tank, I was totally amazed to see the amount of clothes available for pets. I can understand people personalising their pets with a bright collar or a multi-coloured lead but it appears that other people are conveying their pet’s personality by dressing them up. I had thought that this was a craze only for LA celebrities like Pairs Hilton who likes to dress up her dog in pink outfits that match hers, I had not realised that this craze had hit the UK as well. Department stores such as Selfridges have a wide selection of outfits for dogs, mainly for small, handbag sized dogs which can be dressed up as pirates or fairies.

One way of expressing your personality is through your pet, the type of pet you have says a lots about the owner. If you own a goldfish, like I do, then it tells people that you don’t have much spare time but that you still want to own a pet. As someone who works full time and is often away at weekends, my goldfish is the perfect pet as it allows me to simply feed it once a day and clean it out once a week, it’s the working persons pet. If you have more time the you might choose a dog as they need a long walk at least twice a day and three meals plus regular toilet trips, this is the ideal pet for someone who is off work, either retired or on leave with their children. Dogs however are becoming more popular with working people as there has been a rise in the number of dog walkers available who can look after your dog whilst you are at work. The cat is the perfect middle ground as they are quite independent as you can fit a cat flap for them but they also require regular meals.

One of the most important things that an owner can do to for their pet is to get them chipped or to buy collar with the owners name and address on it. The collar on your pet acts as an identification tag and owner need to ensure that the identification section on the collar contains the name of the dog or cat and either the address or phone number of the dog owner. Although some of the more technical collars can be expensive, it is vital that your beloved pet is properly identified in case they get lost, the person who finds them will quickly and efficiently be able to notify the owner and the pet can be returned as soon as possible.

With the sun shining outside, I see many people on my way home from work walking their dogs in the sunshine and it makes me think of the benefits of walking a dog. Not only is your dog getting their much needed exercise but it can also provide their walker with their mush needed 30 minutes of exercise too. Plus during the summer months, dog walkers will also be getting their much needed vitamin D, which is produced from the sun. On a recent trip to New York I was totally surprised to see the amount of people who actually walk dogs a job. Clearly in the big cities like New York and London a lot of people own dogs and are concerned about the amount of exercise that their loved pets receive so they employ someone to walk their dogs for them. This is a great idea as it means that their dogs are not stuck in the house all day but that they receive their daily amount of exercise and fresh air needed for a healthy lifestyle.