Alaskan Game and Greens You Can Share With Pets

There are a bagillion ways to use 100% of the food you trapped, hunted, fished, gathered, or gardened. And I thought it would be fun to share ideas of native-to-Alaska foods that can be shared with your pets!

Dried Goose/Swan/Duck/Crane Legs and Feet: Snacks and chew toys for dogs, cats, ferrets, and rats.

Crab Shells: Legs of king crab, dungenous crab, and other sea-residing crabs can be crushed up and fed to Hermit Crabs.

Willow Tree Twigs: These can be used as chew toys and snacks for rabbits, gerbils, hamsters, mice, chinchillas, and birds. A grove of willow can also be used to feed goats.

Dandelions: Can be fed as snacks to birds, reptiles, rabbits, gerbils, hamsters, mice, rats, and chinchillas.

Voles/Muskrats/Squirrel Meat: Most pet mice, rats, ferrets, and cats will eat these wild meats. If the voles are alive they can be fed to snakes that eat mice/rats.

Lynx/Beaver Meat: A well known source of nutrition for sled dogs these meats will happily be eaten by almost all dogs.

Wild Spinach: These can be fed to reptiles that eat vegetables, hermit crabs, rabbits, birds, gerbils, hamsters, chinchillas and mice.

Blueberries: Almost all small animals enjoy these, excluding ferrets (that should not be fed anything except for meat). Hermit crabs and some reptiles will happily eat these as well.

Blueberry Stems: Birds love these! They make great chew toys and snacks.

Alaskan Animal Shelters List

Don't shop, Adopt. I've always loved animal shelters and most of childhood pets came from a rescue. In Alaska there are a huge array of animal shelters- for almost every species and breed. I've decided, to help promote adoptions, it might be nice to create a database of Alaskan animal shelters. So here's my list. If you have one to add, please do in a comment! And I'll edit the post to add it onto the list.

Dogs
AlaskanAnimal RescueFriends (Anchorage)
Alaska Dog and Puppy Rescue (Palmer)
Alaska Chihuahua Rescue (Anchorage)
Alaskan Sled Dog Rescue (Mat-Su Valley)
Golden Retriever Rescue (Fairbanks)
Carol Kleckner's Fairbanks Husky Rescue (Fairbanks)
GSD German Shephard Rescue (Anchorage)
Arctic German Shephard Rescue (Fairbanks)

Cats
Clearcreek Cat Rescue (Anchorage)
Alaska Cat Adoption Team (Alaska)
Alaska Humane Society (Anchorage)

Ferrets
Forget-Me-Not Ferret Rescue (Anchorage)
Dooka's Weasel Warehouse (Fairbanks)
Rascal & P.A.L.S Ferret Rescue (Eagle River)

Birds
The Alaska Bird Club (Anchorage)

Reptiles
C & W Reptile Rescue and Feed (Fairbanks)

Horses & Livestock
Alaska Bird and FArm Animal Rescue (Anchorage)
Alaska Equine Rescue (Eagle River)
Homer Alaska Horse Rescue (Homer)

All Animals
Friends of Pets (Anchorage)
Haines Animal Rescue (Haines)
Loving Companions Animal Rescue (Anchorage)
Alaska Animal Care & Control (Anchorage)
Alaska SPCA (Anchorage)
Houston Alaska Animal Shelter (Houston)
Kodiak Animal Shelter (Kodiak)
Kenia Animal Rescue (Kenia)

 

Fur Crafts for Pets

I love supporting local Alaskan trappers. I think buying fur is one of the best ways to support local Native traditions and rural economies. And I know there are a lot of people who love spoiling their pets (I'm one of them)- so I thought I'd share some fur craft ideas just for pets.

Small Pet Bed: Line one of your your hamster, gerbils, mouse, or rat's tunnels with fur. It makes a cozy little tunnel that is 100% dark and extra warm for those colder Alaskan days.

Bird Pruning Toy: Take a strip of fur with long stiff guard hairs (like beaver) and attach it to the side of your birds cage near one if it's perches. It's a perfect pruning toy for birds that will sit on your shoulder and prune your hair for you- now they can do it in the cage! And it's also super warm- so they can snuggle up to it at night.

Dog Chew Toy: I give Coho and Rascal all sorts of animal tails to play with. Sometimes I'll attach a fox tail, coon tail, or even a coyote tail to a string and let them chase it around. Coho loves hunting so she get super excited about it. It's also 100% safe for them to chew and swallow (unlike some inorganic toys). Puppies LOVE chasing tails around! I've never had one refuse to play with a coon tail.
 

Dog House Insulator: If you have a shorter haired dog and you want to spend a little extra money to bring them some comfort I suggest laying a pelt down in the bottom of their dog house. Expensive- yes. Warm- absolutely. Probably the most insulating material you could give your pup. They'll be as snug as a bug in a rug.

Cat Chase Toy: Take a little piece of fur and glue it on the end of a string. I usually do an oval shape so it looks like a mouse. And wah-lah you've got the perfect toy to inspire even the laziest cat's inner hunter.

Keeping Small Pet Rodents Warm in the Winter

I'm an animal lover...obviously. And as a child I kept all sorts of things in the corner of my bedroom- from hamsters to gerbils to mice to rats, I loved them all. Living in Alaska though, you really have to ensure that these short haired creatures stay warm. So, as with most of my other posts, I've come up with a list of things to help keep small pets warm in our not-so-warm environment.

Bath Tissue Tubes With Cotton Inside: Gather some old empty rolls from your bathroom and line them with cotton or soft tissue. In the lower-48 people use plane tubes as toys, but in Alaska you can fill them with soft material and make them insulated hiding places that your little creature can cuddle in and keep warm.

Thick Bedding: Some small pets, such as gerbils, require deep bedding to dig- but I think in Alaska it should be used for all small rodents. Aspen is a good commercial choice, but a cheaper alternative is all natural tundra moss gathered from your backyard. It's all over Alaska and works great for small pets without causing respiratory problems. Pluck some moss clumps up, bring them home, and dry them out in your oven at 250 degrees for about fifteen minutes. Once it's dry you can use it as a bedding for your small pets. So much cheaper and healthier than aspen bedding anyways!

Reptile Tank Heater: These things are great for tanks of mice and gerbils. Don't place it on the bottom, but rather on the side. It will give your little pets a place to snuggle up and keep warm without overheating the bottom with all the insulated bedding.

Felt Fabric Pieces: You can buy a package of felt pieces at a craft store for about $5.00. Put one in and let your little pet shred it to pieces and create it's own bed. The felt is naturally really warm and works great for breeding pets too.

Tundra Cotton: I love this stuff! It's literally the best Alaskan pet product you can find for free. Simply pluck the tops of these flowers when they are in bloom and stick them in little beds, hammocks, and hiding toys to insulate them. They're so soft you're little creatures will adore you. And, once again, they're free!