Qpets

Category: Food

  • Ontario giveaway helps to keep pets fed

    Johel Ocegueda survives on disability and Social Security and lives alone in Pomona.

    Well, not totally alone.

    His two pit bulls, who he calls mama and papa, are his canine companions.

    “I need food for my two dogs,” he said. But some months, his government check is barely enough to cover rent, utilities and groceries for himself.

    “Sometimes I don’t have enough money to buy food (for the dogs),” Ocegueda said last week, estimating he was down to a three-day supply of dog food. That’s why, he said, he was heading to the pet food giveaway Saturday, Aug. 29, at Bethel Congregational Church in Ontario.

    He and two dozen or so others lined up for free pet food at the event, organized by the church and community volunteers from across the Inland Empire.

    The organizers gave away about 400 pounds of dog food and 200 pounds of cat food, said Donna Saxton, a Fontana resident and volunteer administrator of the Furry Friends Pet Food Bank.

    “Some are barely paying their own rents,” said Bethel Pastor Sylvia Mann. “They are constantly having to choose between caring for their pets or paying their rent or buying their medicine.”

    What started in 2009 during the Great Recession has continued, usually on the last Saturday of each month. A grant from PepsiCo, Inc. kept it going until the last event in January, Mann said. Saturday’s giveaway was the first during the COVID-19 pandemic, Saxton said.

    Donations have fallen off due to an inability to personally advertise for donations with church-goers and hold fundraisers because of stay-at-home orders. The switch to emails and Zoom is not efficient for reaching the elderly and those pet owners on fixed incomes who may not have computers or Wi-Fi.

    The pandemic has accentuated isolation, which can bring on anxiety and depression. Experts agree that having a pet helps with a person’s mental health.

    A recent survey by the American Pet Products Association found that 72% of pet owners said spending time with their pets during the pandemic helps them reduce stress and increases their well-being. Many seniors say a cat or dog at home helps stave off loneliness. 

    “For some of these people, their pets are their only company,” said Mann, also a chaplain who often counsels caregivers at a local food bank. “If they had to give up their pet it would be horrible for the pet and bad for the person who would lose that companionship.”

    Amelia Perez, 65, of Chino Hills, said it was difficult to pay for her own food and expenses, often leaving her short on cash to buy food for her two dogs, Dallulah, a dalmatian and Delila, a Chihuahua.

    “They are my kids,” she said. “They are part of the family.”

    Jenny Cisneros began showing up for pet food for her dogs in 2014, when her disability forced her to stop working and decreased her income dramatically. She began helping out shortly thereafter and also volunteers at other food banks, she said.

    Last week, she began calling past recipients and reminding them the pet giveaway was back on.

    “Some tell me they are in need, They don’t have family. They have a dog and they keep it like their partner,” she said Tuesday. “You know during COVID-19 it is someone they can talk to. Dogs just listen.”

    HOW TO DONATE

    What: The Furry Friends Pet Food Bank is looking for support.

    Details: It accepts bags of dry cat and dog food, or canned food. Items can be dropped off at Bethel Church, 536 N. Euclid Ave., Ontario, near the parking lot off F Street.

    Information: To ensure someone is there to take the donation and store it, contact caretaker Wayne Howell, 909-984-9111.

    Source: Daily

  • Why You Should Start Using Automated Pet Feeder

    Did you ever have this following experience:

    1. Early morning, you were trying to get some more sleep in. Suddenly, a series of scratching sound came from your room door. It’s your dog (or cats). He was so anxious because it was his feeding time, but you were still in bed!

    2. You needed to work every day, but you couldn’t find a friend or neighbor to feed your pet. So all you can do was leave a lot of food out for your pet to eat at its own. In the end, the result was an obese pet.

    3. You needed to leave town for a couple of days. You asked all around but couldn’t find anyone to take is your pet. So you have no choice but sending your pet to pet boarding, and that cost you couple hundred dollars.

    If you had faced this kind of experience before, you might want to consider an automated pet feeder.

    We all live a busy life this day, feeding our pets on a proper schedule become a difficult task. We can’t guarantee that we can feed our pets at the same time every day, which is quite essential for their health. An automated pet feeder can give you the relief of knowing your pets are always fed, whether you’re at work or going away for a couple of days. Most automated pet feeder today have the feature to set the time, portion and food type of each meal So you can make sure your pets eat at the right time, right amount and right kind of food.

    As your pets, you are the only food source they have. So most of the time they will associate you with food. Also, animal most of the time have different life habit than human. For example, cats are active during night time, and they eat multiple small meals throughout the day. So when your pets are hungry in the early morning time when you want to get some more sleep in, who do you think they are going to go to for food? An automated pet feeder can save you from those “unwanted morning call.” With a little bit of training, you can transfer your association with food to the feeder. When your pets are hungry, they will go to the feeder instead to bother you.

    According to research from the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, 58% of cats and 53% of dogs in the United States were overweight. Pet obesity has become a growing issue, and the outcome is serious. Many factors caused this problem, but one of the more critical factors was owners are spending less time and attention on their pet’s diet. As people are getting busier and busier with their daily task, it often is hard for them to feed their pets personally every meal. So people start to something called free feeding, which is just leaving bunch food for the pets to eat as many as they want. The animals don’t know diet control, so they will eat as many as they can every time.

    A great way to solve this problem is by using an automated pet feeder. This way can allow you to monitor and control your pets daily intake, without the need for your present. It indeed has all the benefits of feeding your pets personally and free feeding but without all the trouble and problem of both.

  • Buy a Feeder, Get a Fountain, for FREE!

    Great Deal! The first 50 customers that purchased an AF-108 Plus automatic pet feeder is eligible for a free WF-300 pet water fountain. Get it now, before they are all gone!

    • This promotion is for our Amazon store only, please noted that buying from our web store won’t qualify for this promotion.
    • If you are satisfied with our products, please write us a product review on Amazon and share with others!
    • If you are not happy or having any problem with our product, contact us so we can see what we can do to fix your issue.

  • Free Feeding vs. Scheduled Feeding, which one should you do?

    Free feeding is comfortable, convenient and takes no time to do. But it can cause many problems. Scheduled diet is right for your pet’s health, but it can be hard to keep up with, especially if you have a busy daily schedule of your own. It is not an easy job to do. So here is the question, free feeding vs. scheduled feeding, what should you do?

    Free Feeding

    Free feeding is a method which you leave food out for your pets to eat as many as they want, whenever they want. You refill it once it is empty. While this method is definitely very convenient and doesn’t take much to do, it has few risks to it.

    The biggest con of free feeding is it can cause health issue, more specifically obesity. Most cats or dogs have the tendency to eat more food than their body actually needs. I personally seem my cat vomit couple times because she overate. This kind of eating will eventually lead to obesity. Studies showed overweight cats have shorter life expectancy than regular cats. Overweight can cause high blood pressure, the excessive burden to joints, diabetes, and other illnesses.

    There is also the problems with keeping the food clean, training your pets to only eat in their own bowl if you have multiple pets and many other issues.

    Scheduled Feeding

    Scheduled Feeding is an excellent habit to have when owning pets. You can decide how much to feed and how many meals to feed everyday base on your pet’s species, breed, age, size, activity level, and other health factors. You can also add in medicines or supplements if your pet needs them. But it isn’t easy if you want to do this properly.

    First, you need to determine how many meals to feed every day. Dogs and cats are different. Usually, cats need 3-4 meals a day with small meals. Dogs are different, dogs only need 2 meals per day. But they typically eat much more. You also need to consider whether your pet needs medicines or not, whether your pet is too active that need additional meals etc. You might want to consult your veterinarian to come up with the best feeding schedule.

    Scheduled feeding is not an easy job, it will take time and work. But its benefits are obvious. You can control your pet’s food intake, feed different kinds of food for different meals, change its eating habit and more.

    Conclusion

    Ideally, I wish every pet owner can schedule feed their pets. However, not everyone has the time and energy to do so. So is there a solution that can have the best of both worlds?

    The answer is yes, programmable automatic pet feeder will be a great solution to that. Programmable pet feeder allows you to set the feed time and food quantity for every day, it will distribute the amount of food you set on the feed time you set so your pet can be fed even you are not present.

    If you are thinking to pick up a feeder, I suggest the Qpets AF-108 Plus. It has a six trays rotary design that allows you to put dry food, treat, medicine and even wet food in some cases, in the six separated food trays for a different meal. Also, a far more advanced programming system compare to the old AF-108. This makes it much easier to use compared to the old AF-108.

    Hope everyone finds my information useful and have a great time with their pets!