At any time of the year, our naughty four-legged furry friends, such as our pet cats and dogs among others, are more prone to illness or injury especially if they are spending more time outdoors. Many pet owners are worried they wouldn’t be able to afford health care services for their pets. Pet insurance is a smart option to help you with the veterinary expenses. But before you finally decide, here are a few tips to assist you in your pet insurance choices.

To start with, there are several types of pet insurance to choose from. A pet health insurance plan reimburses the pet owner of covered veterinary care and itemizes covered treatments, lifetimes, or per illness maximums. As you will see below, the cost of a pet health insurance policy will vary based on the amount of coverage, the type of coverage, geographical location, the type of pet (species), its breed and age, and even whether it is sprayed or neutered. Check this Seven (7) Factors which affect pet insurance cost:

1. Type of Coverage

For the type of coverage, some factors that affect the pet insurance cost are pet’s illness, accident or routine care. When considering this, you should know what benefits are covered and what are not covered. Generally, the larger the amount of coverage, the greater the premium amount. If you take over a larger share for your pet’s veterinary care, the premium will be smaller. Choosing not to cover your pet’s routine care will help you lessen the cost of insurance.

2. Policy Limits

Some important things to consider when dealing with policy limits are deductible, co-pay, incident cap, annual cap because these factors affect the cost of insurance. You should determine how much you need to pay before the Pet Insurance Company reimburses the expenses. You should also know what maximum amount is paid per incident or illness as well as annual caps. To get a more affordable pet insurance, it’s recommended to choose a higher deductible, higher co-pay, and lower annual maximum.

3. Geographical Location

Since veterinarian costs differ significantly between areas, the location where you live affects the premium. Generally, the cost of veterinary care is much expensive in a big city than in a small town, which affects reimbursement rates.

4. Type of Pet

Certain pets tend to have more illness or accident problems than others. Like for example, dogs have more injuries and health problems than cats. Because of that, it’s much expensive to insure a dog than a cat.

5. Breed of Pet

There are certain breeds of dogs and cats that have more health problems than other breeds. The insurer considers this factor to calculate the premium you need to pay to insure your pet.

6. Age of Pet

The age of your pet also affects the cost of pet insurance. Generally, pets that have age between 8 weeks and 5 years old are given with the best rates. For those older pets, the premium will be higher because they usually have more health problems than younger ones.

7. Spayed and Neutered Pets

Usually those spayed or neutered cats and dogs will receive a lower premium because they have a lower risk of having diseases and illnesses.

Caique Parrots are delightful little parrots with lively personalities that make them wonderful pet birds. Here are 5 tips for caring for your bird so that it can live a long and healthy life with you and your family.

 

Food-Since Caiques are known for their love of food, starting with this tip seems very appropriate. They need fresh fruits and vegetables, sprouted seeds, some table food, and a high quality pellet mix as supplement. Change water as often as needed for it to be fresh. This will cut down on mold growth and infections that can result from ingesting mold. When feeding fresh food be sure to remove the food from the cage after several hours for the same reason.

 

Cage-Even though small, they are quite active and do best when they can move freely in the cage. Bigger is always better when it comes to the size of the cage, but a minimum size should be 24′” high by 24″ wide by 24″ deep. Since they are avid climbers, horizontal bars will be greatly appreciated by your bird. Avoid metals that are toxic to birds, and make sure your cage is certified as bird safe. Wood cages should also be avoided as they love to chew, and you would soon find your bird had escaped by chewing through the bars of a wooden cage. Sizing the cage properly keeps your pet happy, and can prevent undesirable behaviors from developing due to boredom. A happy Caique will provide unsolicited entertainment from morning to night, and all you have to do is have time to watch the show.

 

Interaction-These little parrots love people and need people to love them back. They can benefit from at least an hour a day of interaction with humans. They should be closely supervised as they are fearless little birds and can easily get into things they shouldn’t. Go slowly and supervised carefully when introducing other pets.  Never leave a child alone and unsupervised with the bird. Small children may unintentionally frighten, or make the bird feel threatened, and you can easily prevent disaster by being there when your Caique is exercising outside the cage.

 

Training-Caiques respond well to training. Most can learn to speak, do tricks, and whistle songs. And once these skills have been perfected they are more than willing to take center stage and perform for you, family, and friends. Training sessions should be short and daily if possible. Always reward your bird and end before your bird’s attention span wanes. Remember that training is not only to teach your bird something new, but is a great way to continue to bond with your Caique. Make it a time that your bird looks forward to.

 

Preserving their Health-With proper care these parrots have been known to live for as long as 30 years. Like many parrots they are susceptible to airborne disease and infections such as Psittacosis and other respiratory illnesses unless their air is kept clean. Since birds in captivity are subjected to much more dander, feather particles, and other pollutants found in many households, filtering their air will keep their airways clearer, keep them healthier, and ultimately increase their life span.

When you first start out learning how to look after a pet snake you find out that there is a lot to learn, but you quickly realize that most of it just makes common sense when it comes to properly caring for your pet snake health and wellbeing.

The fundamental things to be aware of are what does a snake eat, how much and how often, and what kind of snake cage and environmental conditions does it require. And making sure that you are providing clean and hygienic living conditions suited to the needs of your pet snake to keep it healthy and happy in your care.

In here I list ten of the basic pet snake health tips that you need to know:

1. Select a Healthy Snake to Adopt

When choosing a snake, get one that is well fleshed with clear eyes, no cuts, no mites or ticks, and is alert. The snake should appear curious and grip you firmly but gently when you handle it.

You should be there when the snakes are fed so that you can observe them and make sure that the snakes you are picking from are all eating well.

Captive bred snakes are more suited for pets than buying a wild born snake. Snakes born in the wild are normally very stressed from the capture process and the transportation to the pet supplier. Wild snakes are also likely to have a large parasite load.

2. Get the Right Size Cage for Your Breed of Snake

Your enclosure should normally be about two-thirds the size of its body length. If your snake is six feet long, then the cage should be at least four feet long.

You can always make the enclosure longer than the snake but your snake will be comfortable in a smaller cage then the length of your snake.

Remember to upgrade the enclosure as your snake grows as it needs to increase in size in relation to the snake body length.

3. Keep the Snake Enclosure Humid

Snakes are sensitive to temperature and humidity factors, and you should always ensure their enclosure is kept at the right temperature. Check a reliable snake pet book to learn what the optimal conditions are for your breed of snake.

4. Keep the Feeding of Your Snake Simple Safe and Hygienic

When you buy your snake you need to first be sure to select a pet snake that will happily eat thawed rodents (that you buy frozen from the pet store) and are not overly fussy in their feeding requirements.

Feeding your snake live rodents, even small mice, can hurt your snake – and it is NOT entertainment for an audience of your friends, so don’t do it.

The dead animal for feeding should not be wider than the snake’s own head. Snakes do not eat very often and you can stock the pre-killed and frozen mice in your freezer.

5. Learn how Much and how Often to Feed Your Snake

Get expert advice on the amount and kind of food is optimal for your pet snake and the frequency of feeding.

Snakes may eat almost anything that’s fed to them and they will usually regurgitate the meal after a day or two if they have been overfed.

6. Make Sure Your Snake Cage is Secure

The snake cage, terrarium, enclosure etc should always be well planned and ventilated, but also thoroughly secured to prevent the snake escaping

Breeds such as corn snakes can be excellent escape artists and you can lose your pet snake very quickly if you are not careful.

They will even push at the enclosure lid with their noses to look for any weaknesses in the cage or doorways.

7. Keep a Constant Supply of Fresh Water.

Snakes defecate in water and also soak themselves especially before shedding.

You need to make sure to check the water regularly and replace it with clean water as soon as there are signs of pollution in it.

Buy a heavy dish or container so that it won’t be tipped over when the snake slides around in it.

It is good to place several water dishes in the snake cage which also help to establish the proper humidity for the snake.

8. Create Hiding Places for Your Snake To Feel Secure.

Hiding places should be placed in both the warm and cool ends of the enclosure.

Pieces of bark with hollow areas or curved shape to make a ‘cave’ are good to use for snake hiding spots if placed on a substrate that lets the snakes burrow underneath them.

You can get a big variety of snake caves and wooden structures for snakes to hide in from pet shops and online at Amazon. These are also usually easy to keep clean and hygienic as well.

Add some smooth tree branches as well for the snake to climb and coil onto. You can get these online as well.

9. Provide a range of temperatures in the cage

Your snake needs to be able to find a variety of locations for both heat and cool as it may need during the different times of the day.

Since it can’t travel around a garden to find its ideal temperature for any given time, like a rock to sleep on top of for warm sunlight, or underneath it for coolness, you need to make sure you offer some variety of temperatures inside the enclosure for it to select from.

One end of the enclosure should be cooler and the temperature ideally should gradually warm up more towards the other end of the cage.

You can get a full-spectrum incandescent light to sit above the enclosure that can provide some heat as well as serve as a sunny basking spot.

10. Use appropriate bedding for the snake cage

Newspaper is good to use as a substrate. It is very cheap and is replaced easily as soon as it becomes soiled. Astroturf is also a good alternative that you can buy online.

Astroturf can be cleaned, dried and reused several times before it wears out. Soak the soiled turf in one gallon of water that you add 2 tablespoons of bleach to, then wash well, rinse it in clean water and dry it well before you put it back in the cage.

Snakes will live long and healthy lives as long as you learn how to look after a pet snake and provide them their basic needs and avoid over-feeding them.