Archive for the ‘Small Animals’ Category
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Jan
21
Posted by Michelle Boman
Photo courtesy of alykat on flickr.com
Do you purchase Oxbow products at The Grange? If so, we have an exciting promotion for you! When you purchase $15 of Oxbow product you will earn 1 raffle ticket. Use it to enter for a Oxbow Guinea Pig or Oxbow Rabbit basket. These baskets are filled with exciting Oxbow products, including the new freeze dried treats and Oxbow’s new Organic food! Each basket has a $41.00 retail value!
Come in soon, the raffle is only going on until January 31st! On February 1st, we will announce and contact the winner! Good Luck!
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Jan
08
Posted by Michelle Boman
Rabbits, like cats, can be trained to use a litter box. As I’m sure you can imagine, litter training a rabbit has several benefits, most notably a cleaner and easier to clean home for your furry friend.
The key to potty training is to connect your goal with your rabbit’s natural habits. Here’s how:
1. Spay/Neuter your rabbit when it reaches sexual maturity. A un-altered rabbit is nearly impossible to train because the sexual hormones create an uncontrollable desire to mark territory.
2. Location, Location, Location! Rabbits prefer to potty in a corner. So it makes sense to put the litter box in a cage corner. Of course, if you notice that your rabbit tends to potty in a specific corner, it is easiest to place the litter box there. In the remaining 3 corners of the cage, be sure to place beds, food or water because your rabbit is less likely to eliminate where he sleeps, eats or drinks.
Now what?
You have the litter box in place, so now your rabbit just needs to become familiar with it…and potty. An easy way to start the process is by placing a small amount of droppings in the litter box. Another helpful hint is to use a different type of litter in the box than you do in the cage. If you use shavings in the cage, be sure to use wood pellets in the box. That little difference will help your rabbit determine where he should be pottying. Be sure to use a litter that is rabbit safe (wood and straw pellets are safe choices, no clay!) because you can expect your rabbit to nibble on his litter.
Once your rabbit is using his litter box, be sure to kept it clean. But, not too clean. It’s always a good idea to keep a small amount of elimination in the cage as a helpful reminder that “yes, this is where I should potty”.
With a little time and patience, you can have a happy, healthy and well-behaved house bunny. Enjoy!
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Dec
26
Posted by Michelle Boman
If you have tried to find an Organic option for your small animal, you know how far and few between they are. That’s why we are so pleased to be carrying Oxbow’s BeneTerra line. BeneTerra consists of 4 organic products designed to mirror the nutrition a small animal would find in its natural environment. BeneTerra differs from Oxbow’s other high quality foods in the way that is grown, handled and processed. The farmers responsible for the BeneTerra line “emphasize the use of renewable resources and the conservation of soil and water to enhance the environmental quality for future generations”.
BeneTerra consists fortified Organic pelleted diets for Guinea Pigs and Rabbits, meadow hay free of pesticides and synthetic fertilizers and barley treats made of hay, fruits and vegetables.
All of the BeneTerra line is certifed USDA organic and formulated to provide your small animal with the healthiest and longest life possible. These great products will be on sale at The Grange the full month of January.
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Nov
19
Posted by Janet Payne
We have all walked into a barn and inhaled the familiar scent of ammonia. Even in carefully cleaned stalls, traces of this odor still exist. The source of this odor stems from the breakdown of equine waste, which produces ammonia. Ammonia is a harmful gas that could contribute to reduced performance and overall decreased health of your horse. The ammonia gas is not only unpleasant, it can be dangerous. The fumes are capable of burning and irritating the eyes and lungs. If you can discover the existence of ammonia gas by its smell, it is already twice the concentration at which it becomes harmful to any creature that breathes it or is constantly exposed to it.
Ammonia evolves by the decomposition of urine and manure. Horses expel excess protein, that is not metabolized during digestion, through urine in the form of urea. Because a horse can eliminate as much as 1-1 1/2 gallons of urine at a time, no amount of bedding can catch that much urine. The urine can leak into dark, hidden places and once that happens naturally occurring anaerobic bacteria feeds on the nutrients of the urea-rich liquid, with this process resulting in making ammonia. Straw bedding soiled with manure and urine tends to produce more ammonia gas than sawdust/shavings.
In a study by the Equine Pulmonary Laboratory at Michigan State University’s School of Veterinary Medicine, they found that young horses, stabled during training, suffered respiratory distress when compared to pastured horses of the same age. While dust and mold in feed and bedding played a part in pulmonary problems, it is believed that exposure to ammonia also negatively impacts their respiratory systems. “Besides just being unpleasant in a barn, ammonia gas burns the delicate tissues of the respiratory tract and the eyes and increases mucus production. We conclude that stabling is associated with inflammation of both the upper and lower airway of young horses.”
The following are some steps that you can take to achieve your goal:
Keep your horse outside as much as possible. Fresh air, constant grazing and regular movement, have multiple benefits. Warm, closed up barns can create an ammonia problem by the heat encouraging bacterial growth along with agitating ammonia molecules and causing the gas to rise. Horses are healthier and happier outside.
Clean your stall on a regular basis. Clean your stalls daily or twice daily by removing visible urine and wet bedding. Choose a bedding with a high absorbency level to help lower the levels of ammonia in a stall. Straw is the least absorbent and not the best choice other than for foaling. Once the foal is born, strip the stall and replace with an absorbent bedding such as shavings.
Consult your equine veterinarian or nutritionist. While protein is important, consult your equine specialist about forming a diet specific to your horse’s needs and eliminate unnecessary protein, which contributes to excess urine production.
Make sure you have good ventilation. When you must stall your horse, make sure that you provide adequate ventilation. Tight barns do not allow the ammonia fumes to escape. Good ventilation provides areas where air can enter and escape the barn, allowing distribution of air evenly. This will help regulate temperature and moisture levels and contribute to the removal of odors and gases. You may have to consider some kind of forced air circulation to deal with the building levels of ammonia gases.
Eliminate the areas where urine collects. Try using interlocking or seamless stall mats and sealing them to prevent urine from escaping through the cracks. Bedding, mixed with a quality neutralizing product, can then be applied on top of the mats. The use of lime on the floor, after the stall is cleaned and before new bedding is put in, can help slow the growth of bacteria and reduce odors.
Ammonia gas can be significantly reduced if the right things are done simultaneously with available methods and management practices that involve ventilation, manure management, building cleanliness, and feed management.
The Grange Supply carries stall mats, pelleted bedding, shavings, PDZ and lime (neutralizing products). You can use the PDZ in your kitty litter box and small animal litter boxes as well!!
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Nov
06
Posted by Janet Payne
Irksome Ice
Like puddles, pasture water tanks, as well as stall water buckets, will ice over in sub-freezing weather. Again, where you live will determine whether you’ll need to invest in a water heater of some sort.
There are four styles of pasture stock tank heaters available on the market–float, submersible, side mount, or a drain plug de-icer. Look for them at your local feed and tack or hardware stores. All work equally well, but due to their differences, you might opt for one over others depending on the situation.
For safety’s sake, the float style heater doesn’t quite measure up to the other three when used in plastic stock tanks. Should the elements of a float heater accidentally touch the wall of a plastic tank above the water level, the element is hot to melt the plastic. Nevertheless, special guards can be purchased for use on float-style heaters, making them much safer to use.
No matter which type of stock tank heater you choose to use, keep a watchful eye on your horse’s water consumption. If your horse doesn’t appear to be drinking, it might be due to a short in the heater causing an electric shock each time your horse goes to take a drink.
To avoid this problem, a tank heater can be plugged into a ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI). However, unlike a circuit breaker or fuse, a GFCI is activated by very small measures of electricity. For this reason, you’ll still have to check your water tank daily to be sure that the GFCI hasn’t tripped, allowing the tank to freeze.
There are also several freeze-proof water buckets available for the stalled horse. Heating elements are actually built directly into the walls of the buckets and are thermostat-controlled to keep the water between 40 and 60�F.
Another option is to use a drop-in bucket heater. While these must not be used as a standard water heater to keep a horse’s water from freezing (your horse could burn itself on the heater or remove it from the bucket and start a fire), they’re great if you simply need to warm up a bucket of water for a brief period of time.
Water Woes
Water, in either liquid or frozen form, is a big concern in many parts of the country. No matter the source, be it from too much rain or melting snow, the end result is the same: Wading pools and mud bogs everywhere (particularly at the pasture gate, along well-used paths between the house and barn, around pasture water tanks, and possibly even inside your horse’s run-in shed).
If you have an extensive problem with large areas of pooling water, speak to a contractor. He’ll assist you with a plan to not only build up the low problem spots, but to divert the run-off in a controlled direction.
If you have the skills, equipment, and knowledge, you might take on the challenge yourself. However, be aware that just dumping a load of fill dirt in front of the gate will not likely solve your dilemma, at least not for any great length of time.
No matter how well you’ve planned ahead, there will assuredly be a few puddles to deal with. If your nighttime lows regularly dip below freezing, those puddles will soon be converted into skating rinks. Identify puddles that will be skating rinks come winter, and either get a contractor to help you divert the water, or keep a supply of clay-based cat litter, course salt, or ashes from your fireplace to scatter over the ice. If you have stalled horses, the soiled bedding from your horses’ stalls will also work quite nicely. Keep in mind that the salt–and to a lesser degree the ash–can damage the soil. If you choose to use either of these two methods, use them sparingly.
Also, you may want to assess your farm’s response to a loss of electricity. Many rural farms use wells that are driven by electrical pumps, so when there is no power there is no water, which can definitely create problems. Having a gasoline-powered electrical generator on hand could help solve water problems if the power goes off for several days.
Come to the Grange Supply in Issaquah for all your deicer needs.
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Sep
12
Posted by Michelle Boman
Small Animals such as rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters and ferrets are an appealing choice for today’s on the go families.
Why? These ‘pocket pets’ are still playful and interactive, but when compared to ‘traditional pets’ their day to day care is much less straining and maintenance bills easier on weary pocket books.
‘Pocket pets’ still provide the companionship and comfort that larger animals provide, in a much more manageable package. Children can easily interact with small animals, learning responsibility while developing that special bond. You don’t need to walk a rabbit in the pouring Seattle rain and you won’t need to worry about your Ferret having an accident if the work day runs long. Households that have never had a pet find small animals a less intimidating starting point.
Of course, Small Animals still have nutritional, physical and social requirements. At The Grange, we carry all of the supplies you need for your small animal basics and we can help you develop a habitat for your animal to thrive in.
Food: Oxbow, Mazuri, Purina
Hay: Oxbow, Nature’s Cafe, Local Hay from Eastern Washington
Housing: Cages, Hutches, bedding
Entertainment: Chews, toys and beds
So if your family is looking to add a new companion, consider a ‘pocket pet’. I bet you wont regret it!
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