How much sleep does your dog need?
How much sleep does your dog need?
“How much sleep does my dog need?” Every dog owner asks this question at some point. The answer is not easy, as there is no general rule. A dog’s sleep needs can depend on a number of factors, including the dog’s age, breed and size, their health and activity level. However, as a general rule, most dogs sleep between 12 and 14 hours a day. Puppies need a lot more sleep, so 20-22 hours of sleep for a puppy is not uncommon.
Some dog breeds are naturally more sleepy than others and therefore need more sleep as well. These include, for example, Saint Bernards, German Shepherds and Bouvier des Flandres. Jack Russell Terriers and Dachshunds also love to sleep. So you should listen to your dog and give it enough rest. Other dog breeds, on the other hand, are less sleepy and therefore need fewer hours of sleep. These include, for example, Border Collies, Siberian Huskies and Australian Shepherds. These breeds also benefit from regular exercise and exercise in the fresh air. So you should make sure that your dog gets enough exercise to stay fit and live a stress-free life!
Basically, getting enough sleep is just as important for your dog as it is for you. During sleep, your dog’s body regenerates and strengthens its immune system. In addition, sleep helps your dog process and learn new information. It is therefore important that your dog gets enough sleep. If you notice that your dog seems restless or tired, you should give him a chance to rest and relax.
Some tips that can help you improve your dog’s sleep pattern:
Make sure your dog is regularly out in the fresh air and gets enough exercise. A walk before bed can help calm him down and ease him into dreamland.
Create a quiet environment for your dog in your home. Avoid making or listening to loud noises or music, or turning the TV up too loud when your dog is trying to sleep. Or create a quiet retreat for your dog.
Teach your dog to find rest in a specific spot in your home. This place can be his favorite spot or just a quiet corner in the room. If he feels relaxed in that place and knows he will find rest here, he will soon transfer this habit to other places and be able to find rest anywhere in your home.
Hens genetically modified to produce only female chicks could save mass culling
Hens genetically modified to produce only female chicks could save mass culling
Israeli scientists have genetically modified hens so that they only lay eggs which produce females, in a breakthrough that could help end the annual culling of around seven billion male chicks around the world.
In a remarkable development which could have major positive environmental and economic benefits, embryologists worked for seven years to figure out how to edit the genes of egg-laying hens so that, when they are carrying male embryos, those do not progress and hatch.
Male chicks born from egg-laying hens are much smaller and leaner than those born from the hens which produce meat chickens.
As a result, they are destroyed en masse by being crushed or gassed because they are not suitable for meat production, cost a lot to raise, and do not lay eggs.
Animal rights activists have denounced the practice as barbaric, and it has been banned in several European countries - but not the UK, where some 29 million day-old male chicks are killed a year.
Restrictions across Europe
Germany’s prohibition on male chick culling came into effect this year, while French farmers have until the end of 2022 to comply with new restrictions. Italy could be next, with plans to introduce a law by late 2026.
“This is a world first and the only solution that is easy for industry players to implement,” Dr Yuval Cinnamon, a Volcani Centre embryologist, told AFP.
Only option available
The researchers say this is the only option to substantially curb mass male chick culling around the world.
The technology involves genetically modifying egg-laying hens so that, when carrying male embryos, those do not progress and hatch.
“After fertilisation the male embryos do not develop, and the female embryos develop normally without being genetically modified and hatch normally,” Dr Cinnamon explained.
“This will provide a real answer to what is probably the most serious animal welfare problem in the world today,” he added.
Beyond the animal rights benefits, the technology could offer poultry producers huge savings in terms of the space and energy required to operate incubators while reducing the significant culling costs.
“It costs a dollar to cull each male chick, so that’s seven billion in savings a year,” Dr Cinnamon said.
Commercial benefits
Huminn has forecast that commercial benefits from the technology could emerge within two years.
At a meeting in October, European Union agriculture ministers said they would consider a bloc-wide ban on culling male chicks from egg-laying hens, pending the results of an impact assessment.
Elsewhere, it was announced last month that chickens genetically edited to prevent bird flu are on the horizon in a breakthrough that could prevent egg and poultry shortages in supermarkets.
Scientists at the Roslin Institute at the University of Edinburgh and Imperial College say they are close to publishing new research on the creation of an avian flu-resistant chicken.
If successful, genetically edited flocks could be available in five to 10 years, say researchers.
In 2019, the team showed it was possible to use the genome-editing technique Crispr to delete a section of chicken DNA that the virus hijacks to replicate.
They found the virus was no longer able to grow inside cells with the genetic change.
Although the work was only carried out in chicken cells, the team has been working to duplicate the results in a live animal.
Reference: The Telegraph: Story by Jamie Johnson
Pet owners could be forced to euthanise animals as Spain to ban popular housebound species
Pet owners could be forced to euthanise animals as Spain to ban popular housebound species
Thousands of people living in Spain, including expats, fear they may have to put their much-loved pets down as the government prepares to announce tighter laws on keeping animals in homes. Spain already has a tight list of animals that cannot be kept as pets due to their endangered or protected status. But they are expected to add to this list in coming weeks. Details have not yet been released but it has been reported this new list could include hamsters, rats, lizards, and snakes.
The prospect has left pet owners reeling as they fear they may be forced to euthanise their much-loved animals.
Since 2013, many common pets have been included in the Spanish Catalogue of Invasive Alien Species, which categorically prohibits keeping raccoons, Argentine parrots, lovebirds, Vietnamese pigs, peninsular tortoises and hedgehogs.
The new Animal Welfare Law currently being drawn up significantly expands the list of pets prohibited at home. The new laws will establish a series of requirements for an animal to be considered domestic.
In order to keep a certain animal, it must appear on the list of permitted species which will be confirmed after the approval of the law.
In general, these requirements delve into how easy the species is to care for in tems of its ecological, physiological and ethological needs.
t also looks into scientific research to find how that animal lives in captivity, to ensure it does not pose a risk to people due to it's temperament, venom or size, and that there is no risk that, if it escapes, it could become an invasive species, colonising habitats and causing environmental damage.
The new list is expected to include a long list of animals, with hamsters - popular pets in many countries - possibly being prohibited.
The Spanish government says in the case or rabbits and mice, the aim is to preserve the wild and native fauna of the natural environment.
Turtles could also be prohibited, with the Ministry of Ecological Transition deeming them to contain a significant amount of pathogenic vectors, including parasitic fungi.
Pet owners have said they are now very worried about the new law and what will happen to their animals. It isn't clear whether people will be able to keep the pets they already have or if the law will just apply to new purchases.
One anxious owner said: "It seems correct to me for certain dangerous or invasive species but in certain cases it is a joke in very bad taste. My grandparents have Canaries and parakeets."
Another added: "With this law there will be thousands of pet abandonments." Details of when the new law will be introduced have yet to be announced but it is expected within the next two years.
Flying rings banned from beaches by UK council to protect seals
Flying rings banned from beaches by UK council to protect seals
A coastal council has voted to ban flying rings from all of its council-owned beaches after at least three seals got the plastic toys stuck around their necks.
The inquisitive animals each poked their heads through the hole of a flying ring around the Norfolk coast and then could not take it off, with the rigid plastic cutting into them as they grew bigger.
King’s Lynn and West Norfolk borough council has now resolved to ban the plastic rings from its beaches, following a campaign launched by a member of the Friends of Horsey Seals volunteer group.
The first seal to get its head wedged in a flying disc, nicknamed Mrs Frisbee, was rescued at Horsey beach in east Norfolk in 2017 and taken to an RSPCA centre, where the ring was cut off.
Retired social worker Jenny Hobson, who volunteers at an RSPCA animal hospital in East Winch, launched a campaign against flying rings after a second seal got a disc stuck around her neck in 2018.
The 67-year-old, who lives near King’s Lynn, was volunteering at the RSPCA centre when the blubbery mammal, nicknamed Pinkafo, was brought in.
In a photo, she said, Pinkafo “looked like she was dead on the beach”, but she survived.
A pink plastic ring became embedded in Pinkafo’s neck, causing a deep wound that became severely infected.
After she was cut free, the wound was treated with antibiotics, pain relief and regular salt baths.
“I happened to be on shift at East Winch helping out that evening when she was brought in,” said Ms Hobson.
“I saw the state she was in and the ring around her neck.
“I just felt I had to do something.”
This week, the cabinet of the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk voted to “prohibit the use of flying rings on council beaches and proactively discourage their use in other areas where there is a chance they could end up in the sea”.
Ms Hobson said she believed the authority was the first council to take such action and she hoped that others would follow suit.
“It’s wonderful news, a real breakthrough I think,” she said.
“It’s a real step forward that the problem with the seals is being taken seriously.”
Councillor Harry Humphrey, cabinet member for corporate services for King’s Lynn and West Norfolk borough council, was at Tuesday’s meeting.
“We’re doing it because of the horrific pictures we’re seeing of seals with these rings around their necks,” he said.
“It’s not very nice and, if we can stop it, very good.”
He said he would liaise with Friends of Horsey Seals over an idea for “common signage around the coastline”.
“What I said I’d do is liaise with them and see what we can do and what can be universal around the whole of the coast. There’s no use having particular signs in West Norfolk and signs in North Norfolk that are different,” he said.
Ms Hobson said she wanted people to stop taking flying discs to the coast and to use solid ones instead so seals could not poke their heads through.
She is also campaigning for shops to stop selling the discs.
Reference: The Independent: Story by Sam Russell •
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