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Feeding your cat the appropriate amount of a well-balanced diet is vital to the maintenance of overall health and well being. Cats have unique nutritional requirements and eating behaviors that evolve throughout their lives.
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In the wild, the ferret is a whole carcase feeder. It is an obligate carnivore with a very short gut and so is unable to deal with much, if any, fibre or carbohydrate in the diet.
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Chinchillas should be offered good quality grass hay ad-libitum (available 24 hours a day). Pellets or concentrate foods should be given as a small quantity in addition to the hay.
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In the wild rabbits spend many hours chewing grass. This is a tough fibrous material that also contains abrasive silicates.
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Pet rodents can be fed a good, high quality rodent chow (pelleted food) available at pet stores.
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Unlike most pets, snakes eat whole prey items including mice, rats and hamsters. Larger snakes will also eat whole rabbits.
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Feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) is a potentially life threatening viral infection of cats. Fortunately because of attempts to control transmission and with the availability of good vaccines to protect against FeLV, the disease is much less common. As its name implies, FeLV is able to cause neoplasia (cancer) of the white blood cells (leukaemia), but in addition the virus may also cause the development of solid tumours (lymphomas) at various sites in the body. There is currently no specific treatment for FeLV infected cats (i.e., no treatment that is able to eliminate the virus from the body).
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Ultrasound consists of very high-pitched sound waves. Humans hear up to 20 thousand hertz (vibrations/second), whereas the ultrasound frequencies that we use in cats are usually around 7-10 million hertz.
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It has always been customary for vets to recommend surgical neutering of ferrets. Unfortunately, it is now clear that this has been a major factor in the large increase in cases of adrenal gland disease.
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Fish oils are derived from coldwater fish, mainly menhaden, salmon, cod, tuna, mackerel and trout. Cod stocks are reducing, so the age-old 'cod liver oil' should be in avoided where possible.
