8 Simple Tips For Keeping Your Pet Birds Health

Title:8 Simple Tips For Keeping Your Pet Birds Health.Word Count:479Summary:1. Birds need to eat a nutrionally sound diet in order to live a long life. Improper feeding canlead to malnutrition and disease resulting in a shorter lifespan. Start off by feeding your birdright from the beginning.抯2. Parrots and birds of the parrot family can eat a variety of different kinds of foods. Seedsshould not be a parrot only food. This is a mistake many new bird owners make. Seedscontain mostly fat and not enough protein and very few vitamins.3. Bird...Keywords:birds,bird,birding,nature,watching,outdoors,wildlifeArticle Body:1. Birds need to eat a nutrionally sound diet in order to live a long life. Improper feeding canlead to malnutrition and disease resulting in a shorter lifespan. Start off by feeding your bird

right from the beginning.抯2. Parrots and birds of the parrot family can eat a variety of different kinds of foods. Seedsshould not be a parrot only food. This is a mistake many new bird owners make. Seedscontain mostly fat and not enough protein and very few vitamins.3. Birds can eat most table foods but it is best to stick to healthy items including itemscontaining whole grains, pretzels, and whole wheat pastas and bread. Foods high in fat shouldbe avoided. Never feed them avocados as they are toxic to birds.4. Good sources of nutrition for your bird include beans and legumes as well as variousvegetables and fruits. Some birds resist new foods at first while others are open to trying manynew things. Although it may take some time keep trying to introduce your bird to a variety ofhealthy foods.抯5. Changes to a bird diet should be done slowly and progressively over time. Provide fresh抯foods twice per day for approximately an hour each time. Be careful not to leave fresh food inthe bird cage too long as it will develop bacteria which can make your bird sick.6. Your bird should be fed two times per day. This will result in your bird getting hungry whichwill make it more active. Also, a good appetite can make it more likely that your bird will trynew foods. Feeding at set times twice per day will also allow you to be able to monitor howmuch your bird is eating. If your bird is not eating well this can tell you that it is not feelingwell or has a health problem.7. If your bird is a picky eater and you cannot get it to eat a varied diet you can try warming orcooking the vegetables. Take away seeds except at meal time until your bird starts eatinghealthy foods on a regular basis.抯8. Just as water is necessary for people it is also necessary for healthy birds. Keep your birdwater dish filled with fresh, clean water at all times. Bird bowls can become very dirty and抯should therefore be cleaned each day with hot soapy water. Once every other week you shouldclean your bird water dish with a solution containing bleach. Also make it a point to pick upsome water soluble bird vitamins at the local pet store and add vitamins to your birds waterdaily.Birds make wonderful pets for the whole family and they can live a long time if taken care ofproperly. Proper care of birds includes maintaining a healthy diet of seeds, vegetables and fruit.Health Insurance for Every Need: Understanding the Kinds AvailableIn the United States, there are about five different types of health insurance available:traditional health insurance; preferred provider organizations or PPOs; point-of-service plans orPOS; health management organizations or HMOs; and most recently, health savings accounts orHSAs. With so many types of health insurance, it may be confusing trying to figure out whichone best fits your needs, so thoroughly research each and speak with a professional if you needclarification.

Traditional health insurance is the one that most people think of when they think of healthinsurance. You pay the insurance company a premium every month, and if you have an accidentor need for health coverage, you have a deductible amount you must pay and then the insurancecompany picks up the rest of the bill. You often have an inexpensive office and/or prescriptionco-pay with traditional health insurance.With people living longer, health insurance companies began to look for more ways to reducetheir costs, developing different health plans such as PPOs. PPOs are plans which will covernearly all of your medical expenses as long as you stay within a preferred network of physiciansor hospitals. This network creates a \"preferred provider\" list that you can choose from.Treatment outside this network of providers is covered but only at a reduced rate, meaning youend up paying more to see a physician outside the network. By limiting the physicians andhospitals covered in their network, the insurance company can control, to an extent, their costsand lower your premiums. POS plans work like PPOs, but require you to have a primary carephysician through whom you can receive referrals for specialists. If you need to see aneurologist or a dermatologist, you must first visit your primary care physician for an initialdiagnosis in order to receive a referral to a specialist for a more thorough diagnosis. POS plansalso have a preferred provider network, and if you choose to visit a specialist or physicianoutside that network, your coverage will be limited.HMOs combine a stricter version of PPOs and POS plans. HMOs have a defined list ofphysicians, often much smaller than PPO networks, which you may see. You will not becovered at all if you see a physician outside your HMO network. Furthermore, you must alsoget a referral from your primary care HMO physician to see any specialist. However, theserestrictions mean that you pay an extra low or no monthly premium.HSAs were recently signed into law by President Bush. You can deposit money into a specialnon-taxed, interest-gaining savings account that must be used for medical expenses. The idealsituation for an HSA is to combine the account with a low-cost, high-deductible insurance plan.The savings account is designed to allow you to cover the high deductible if you find the needto cover expensive medical costs while the insurance company will pick up the rest of the bill.Again, it is important to carefully consider each option before choosing a single healthinsurance plan. Your health is important-make sure it is protected in the best way possible.Title:Need A Little Help With Your Health? Get A Dog!Word Count:446Summary:Dogs are considered man's best friend. But did you know that having a dog gives you severalheath benefits?In studies done by medical professionals, dog owners benefit from their pet's presence inseveral ways:

1) Improved cardiovascular health - Dog owners have been proven to have blood pressure andcholesterol lower than ordinary people. These factors reduce the chance for cardiovasculardiseases. Stroking a pet has long been known to reduce blood pressure. A study f...Keywords:pets, dogs, catsArticle Body:Dogs are considered man's best friend. But did you know that having a dog gives you severalheath benefits?In studies done by medical professionals, dog owners benefit from their pet's presence inseveral ways:1) Improved cardiovascular health - Dog owners have been proven to have blood pressure andcholesterol lower than ordinary people. These factors reduce the chance for cardiovasculardiseases. Stroking a pet has long been known to reduce blood pressure. A study from the NewYork State University found that these benefits continue even without the pet available. Thestudy tested a group of stockbrokers with hypertension. They concluded that just being apet-owner can lower blood pressure.Dog owners also have blood cholesterol levels lower than normal. Five thousand four hundredpeople were tested by the Baker Medical Research Institute of Australia and with the resultsshowing pet owners having not just lower blood pressure but also lower levels of bloodtriglycerides and cholesterol compared to people who didn't own any pets.2) Faster recovery time and higher survival rates - Hospital studies have found that seniors andrecently operated on patients responded better to treatment and got better quickly while theywere in contact with dogs and other therapy animals. Just petting a dog can be relaxing andtherapeutic for recovering patients.Also, dog owners have a greater chance to survive after suffering from a serious illness. Severalstudies have discovered that pet owners who suffered from a heart attack were more likely to bealive a year after they were discharged from the hospital than those who did not own pets.Another New York study found that pet's affected their survival rate more even more than thepresence or company of family members or friends.3) Fewer visits to the doctor - Studies conducted at Cambridge and the UCLA have found thatowning a pet corresponds to overall improved health and less need for hospital visits. AMedicare study of its elderly patients also discovered that those who own dogs visit the doctorless than those who don't have a pet.4) Mental Wellness - Patients who have dogs have also been known to have better emotionalhealth than their counterparts. They offer unconditional love and affection; their presence alonehelps reduce loneliness for sick people who have otherwise been isolated. Several studies ofpeople with major illnesses have shown that the stress of fighting the disease is significantlyreduced when they had a dog as company.As you can see, having a dog is a great investment, for the joy that you get from owning one

and the health benefits that you can receive. So go out and get a dog!