#reliapet

[reliapet]

We Are ReliaPet™

As a passionate pet parent, I know firsthand how hard it is to find reliable small pet care advice you can trust. For the last 3 years, I’ve been building ReliaPet™. It’s an ethical website with reliable pet care articles and a cute little shop! The shop has over 15 adorable and practical items perfect for your everyday activities, from unique water bottles to hamster-themed notebooks! ReliaPet currently has care information for rats, hamsters, rabbits, and bettas. On ReliaPet, you’ll find comprehensive articles on various topics, from researching to growing sprouts for your pets! Soon, I will add more species to meet all your pet care needs.

Understanding the reason behind the “what” makes a big difference. So, ReliaPet articles explain what and why so you can make better care decisions.

The pet care community is always evolving. New species entering and standards improving with new science. I regularly review and update our articles to match the corrected care standards you rely on. I realize while I may spend more time doing research than writing the article itself, I can still make mistakes, so your feedback is important. At ReliaPet, our goal is to improve the lives of pets and their families. By educating through free, reliable care and husbandry articles, and making safe pet product recommendations. I’m striving to be different in all the best ways with ReliaPet.

Check out the ReliaPet.net website to learn from our passionate research, and if you love what we do, buy adorable merch from our shop or support us on Ko-Fi! Together, we can make a difference by caring for pets and their families.

[reliapet]

Lets Chat Rabbits

Rabbits are one of the most common pets after dogs and cats. Despite this, few people know the ins and outs of their care. To help out, here's a fun little Q&A about rabbits: Q: What is the biggest rabbit breed? A: The Flemish Giant is the largest, ranging around 2.5-4 feet long and weighing up to 22 pounds. The record for the largest Flemish Giant was 50 pounds! Q: What is the smallest rabbit breed: A: The Netherland Dwarf is the smallest breed, with a max body length of about 9 inches and weighing between 2 and 2.5 pounds. Q: How high can rabbits jump? A: Most rabbits can easily scale 1 meter high, or 3 feet. In comparison, they can leap a distance of 10 feet in a single bound, reaching top speeds at about 35 miles per hour! Q: Can rabbits learn tricks? A: Yes! Rabbits are food motivated and able to learn various tricks, including run through a course like dog shows have. Q: Do rabbits actually like carrots? A: Most rabbits love carrots! And peas, anything that tickles their sweet tooth. But watch out, they're prone to obesity, and should only get these delights once or twice a week. Q: What are some things I might not know about rabbits? A: Some rabbit breeds have specific functions. Like sheep, angora rabbits produce wool, called angora wool. Every 3-4 months it is painlessly trimmed, plucked, or brushed away to be used for coats, mittens, and many other things! Trimming their coat keeps them from overheating in the summer, and often they will sit and nap while being trimmed. Removing the excess wool also prevents them from getting blockages from over-grooming. They also occasionally look like a little cloud grew ears and a nose.

Learn more at the link below! https://www.reliapet.net/basic-rabbit-care/ If you love what we do, support us on Ko-Fi! https://ko-fi.com/reliapet/

[reliapet]

Alright, I'm saying it. Bigger is better.

No, really.

Gerbils, degus, chinchillas, especially hamsters, guinea pigs and rabbits all benefit from a

Bigger cage.

Rabbits are able to binkie and run, your guinea pigs will popcorn more, your chinchillas will have more space for natural behaviors.

Your birds, given enough space, will have enough room for free flight in their own enclosure.

Your bearded dragon will have more roaming room.

Your fish tank will be more stable in it's levels and less likely to have a cycle crash.

Bigger is certainly better with enclosures.

Except for mice.

The animal kingdom is so big, so vast and diverse, that no matter what you say there's likely an exception.

"Mammals don't lay eggs"

The platypus laughed at that one.

And mice laugh at bigger is better. But, their laughs often go unheard. With all other pets benefiting from larger enclosures, people often assume the same also goes for mice. But mice are not hamsters, in face they get stressed out in large, open spaces.

Mice like their enclosures to be cluttered. And I don't mean a little bit here and there so it looks messy, I'm talking hoarder house levels. Stuff stacked on top of stuff, stuff buried under the bedding, stuff everywhere.

And technically, yes, they can be mostly okay in a large enclosure. Sometimes. If the entire space is cluttered that way. And most people don't realize how difficult it is to do that. But after a certain point, no amount of clutter will make a large space okay for a mouse. They'll be constantly stressed and unhappy.

For 3 female mice or 1 male mouse, a 20 gallon tank is all they need. It will have enough of everything to make them happy if cluttered properly, and they will thrive. You do not need to upgrade to a 30 gallon tank unless you are going to have more mice in the enclosure.

so remember,

Bigger is better,

Except when it's mice. 🐁

[reliapet]

I don't expect you to be a perfect pet owner.

Nobody should. Not even you. You shouldn't expect that of yourself.

You might think, "I don't expect myself to be perfect." But do you feel guilty when you discover a mistake in your care, or something that could be done better? Do you feel like you failed your animals somehow?

That's perfection talking.

Care standards made leaps and bounds over the past 20 years. Things which used to be standard back then are seen as neglect now. But anyone who owned pets 20 years ago shouldn't feel bad for that. They were going off the best information available.

And that's what you're doing. When you find a better way, you should be happy that you're able to improve your pets life, not guilty you aren't already doing it.

Seeing it in a positive way like this will help change your mindset to looking forward to finding better ways to provide husbandry. It's better for you, your mental health, your will to research and seek new information, and for your furry/scaled/feathery family members. Care standards are still improving, they always are. Eventually what you're doing now may become dated, and you'll have to update your research and your care. This is a good thing! It means research, and you, are making progress.

Don't let anyone guilt you for not doing something you didn't know existed, or didn't know was better. Be gentle to yourself, and be excited to learn new things and improve your care.

[reliapet]

Learn how to teach new pet owners proper pet care!

While it may seem easy at first, it turns out there's a lot of mistakes you can make. The last thing you want is for them to get defensive and feel bad because of what you said out of concern for their pets! When someone is feeling talked down to, they're less likely to listen or be open to the idea they may need to make some improvements. Remember, if they have animals, they likely care about them! Always give the benefit of the doubt, and approach the situation from the position that they love their animal, too. Here are some tips: * Assume this person loves and cares about their pet, and they are not mistreating their pet on purpose. * Provide resources! Links to reputable sources. Explain that pet store employees are often under or mis-educated on animal care. * Be kind! Being nice to this person is the best way to get them to be willing to listen to you. * Be understanding that they spent a lot of money on the cage, ext... even if it is the wrong one. Offer affordable alternatives and remind them they may be able to exchange the cage at the store they bought it at for a more suitable enclosure. * Find something they did right, and compliment it! If you don't see anything they did right with their set up, compliment their pet! They're always adorable, and a good fallback. Be genuine with the compliment. Remember: they're trying to do what's best. * Try not to be "my way or the highway" let them use suitable alternatives, even if it's not what you think is the absolute best choice. For example. if someone uses fleece for the platforms in their rat cage, that's okay as long as they're cleaning them every other day or so, even if wood bedding is the best. Make sure they know what they're doing currently is okay even if you bring up the better option. Here are some more tips: https://www.reliapet.net/educating-pet-parents-compassion-over-criticism/ If you love what we do, support us on Ko-Fi! https://ko-fi.com/reliapet

[reliapet]

mlem When's the last time you gave your critters a health check? It's a good idea to give one every week or every other week to catch potential health issues early! Here's how to give a hamster a health check: https://www.reliapet.net/how-to-give-hamster-health-checks/ Health issues I've encountered as a pet owner: - a heart 5 times the normal size - Suspected cancer, twice - Dry skin leading to excessive itching and cut-like wounds - "wet tail" (in those cases it was stress induced and not actually wet tail) - Abcess - Overgrown hamster nails - Broken tooth (grew back normally thank goodness)

those are just off the top of my head. I used to work at a pet store, so not all are from my critters. The only one I didn't catch with a health check was the heart, because it was growing about the same rate she was losing weight.

[reliapet]

Let's Chat Rats!

Yeah, rats. So, when you surround yourself with rat people, it's easy to forget how many people don't know how wonderful these little rodents are.

Fancy rats are not sewer dwelling rodents who are filthy, plague spreading critters. In fact, it is quite the opposite! Rats are smart, and clean themselves as often as a cat does! They do such a good job keeping clean, they don't need regular baths. And when their cage is properly maintained, they only ever smell like... Rat! Some people compare the smell to popcorn. It's a mild smell you don't notice unless you bury your nose in their fur.

Rats come in many shapes island sizes, but surprisingly enough, they don't have breeds! There is no recognized breed of rat, only varieties. Rats have not been around long enough to develop breeds. The varieties we have influence coat color, texture, length, overall rat size, and more! From hairless rats to the luxuriously long coat of a silvermane harley rat, once you give these critters a chance you're sure to find one you love.

Did you know rats are social? They need friends, the absolute minimum is 2, but 3 is the best recommended minimum both for social dynamics and to ensure one rat is never alone if one dies. It doesn't cost much more to have three rats over two rats, and it's so much more fun!

Rats also love your attention. They want to be around you, to hang out with you. Whatever you're doing, they want to be part of it, whether it's sitting on your shoulder or stealing all your attention. They're also very food driven and love to learn tricks! Learn more:

Rats 101: Essential Tips for New Rat Owners

Image by A Tale Of Tails Rodentry, used with direct permission from the breeder.

Rats also love to make giant rat snuggle piles!

[reliapet]

The Canine PTSD article is now live!!!!!!

This finally gets me to my goal of 25 posts on the website. I'm so excited!!!!

This article covers: - What canine PTSD is - How it was discovered - How long we've been actively researching it - What the symptoms are - How fight, flight, freeze, and fawn present in canine PTSD - What the causes are - Which working dogs are more prone to it by the nature of their work - Ways to build resilience to help prevent canine PTSD to some extent - How it is treated (but don't do it by yourself!) - And how to get a diagnosis if you think your dog has it I would also like to add a very special thank you to Maelissa Kluckman for offering her personal experience with her dog, Sheba, in the article!

What is Canine PTSD? ► ReliaPet

Can dogs get PTSD? Yes. Click here to learn all about Canine PTSD, what the causes are, and how to diagnose and treat it.

Whew! It's a big one, but it felt wrong to split it up. I've been working on this since the beginning of February, and I really hope it helps a bunch of puppers, woofers, floofers, doggos, and their humans! Thank you for your support, everyone!