Pet queries raised by animal lovers

Regular water changes are important for your fish’s health

...responds to queries raised by animal lovers across the city

We have a stray cow roaming in our colony with severe wounds which seem to be infected with maggots. What can I do about it? Get a vet to the cow immediately as maggots can eat up the whole animal and it takes weeks to die while in great pain. However, maggots can be taken out very easily. You can find out whether you can take her to a local gaushala, but pay for her and visit her everyday as most gaushalas do not have a doctor and they really do not look after the cows in their care; they simply house them till they die. You should learn first aid yourself as many animals get maggots in the monsoon. I changed the water in my aquarium and now three of my clown fishes have died. Did I do anything wrong? Yes, it seems changing water is a very probable reason why your fish died; but not because water changes are bad per se. It’s how you do it that matters. Over time fish waste, uneaten food particles, dead leaves from plants, alter the chemistry of the water. Because the fish live in the water, and the changes happen slowly, they adjust to it. When a sudden, large water change occurs, it causes a drastic shift in the make up of the water and the fish often cannot tolerate it and they die. Those that do not die immediately are stressed and succumb to disease over the next few weeks or months. Regular water changes are important for the long-term health of your fish. A good practice is to change 10 to 15 per cent of the water each week. Make sure you ‘age’ the water and let it sit for a day before adding it to the tank. Clean the gravel while siphoning off old water to rid of debris. Don’t touch the filter. Time your filter cleaning so it occurs between water changing days. I would like to attract pigeons to my house. What should I feed them so that they come? Pigeons love grain, so a mixture of bajra, makka and jawar should be put along with fresh water. Keep rice, dahlia and fruits alongside. The more the variety in the birdfeed, the better the nutrition you’re providing. I was told by a behaviour specialist not to play tug-of-war with my dog. Why? Tug-of-war is a dominance game. If your dog should win, you just reinforced in your dog’s mind that he is in the leader position. It puts him in a dominance struggle state of mind. You want to get him out of thinking about being the leader. Winning means something different and it has long-term consequences. You should only play with your dog when you bring him the toy. You should be the one to end the game, not him. So if you see him getting tired then you must end the game before he does. Otherwise you let him make the decision and in the canine world the leaders make all the decisions. Can I give my dog Aspirin?No. Aspirin causes gastrointestinal damage in a dose-dependent fashion and has been shown to cause gastrointestinal bleeding in dogs. It also can lead to premature liver failure in healthy dogs or cause more damage to dogs already in liver failure.