When you want to research information on a certain pet, or when you have questions about a pet, where do you look for the information?
Do you borrow/buy pet books?
Do you subscribe to pet magazines?
Or do you look for information online?
I have never bought any pet books, since all the information and answers can be found online. I would search for keywords to find articles to read first. Of course, some articles are beyond newbies, and they can sometimes be confusing. So if I still have questions after read the articles, I would ask them on a forum. Let the people with experience to confirm my understanding of the information I found.
Combined with search engines results and asking on a forum, I found nothing can't be answered.
When I was a child I'd always buy a New Zealand magazine called PET magazine he he. It had wonderful articles, beautiful photographs, competitions, recipes to make your pet food (e.g biscuits) and advertisements from various pet breeders. This was before most breeders had websites. I also used to take dog books out at my local library.
You're right though these days I just search online as there is more animal information online than I could ever read.
i normally search around online and join forums and befriend people who have the animal im researching. ill ask lots of questions and if there's contradictions, ill make my own answers based on those to meet somewhere in the middle
I believe hard copy books will eventually be phased out completely. That means libraries will be phased out too. At least the libraries we know now. All the books will eventually be in digital form. There will be online library, and online library membership. Every book can be in form of digital copy and can be found quickly anywhere with access to internet. As far as I can remember, I have never ever looked for information from books beside preparing for exams when I was still a student lol.
Magazines can have good information, but in my opinion not as useful when you are trying to look for something specific.
I remember when I was a fish newbie. I searched all over the internet for information. Ended up on a fish forum asking noob question, unfortunately that forum wasn't very newbie friendly. I had to learn to bear with it.
I look online for practically everything. I don't know if hard copy books will be phased out - I think there's still a huge market for fiction. But for information, most people, especially young people, will go to google rather than a library.
Magazines will probably be the first to go. They cost a lot for what you get and like you say Ram, they're not much good if you need specific information.
I look for information online most of the time, particularly forums. I have found experience beats all, and if you don't have much in a particular area, it helps to learn some from others experience. I do have a few hard cover books though, on things like parasitology, they are a pain compared to anything online, but for a full reference on a complicated subject, they still do fulfill a need. At last until someone sets up a website with all of the information on it.
I have a couple of books by Brian Kilcommons and Cesar Milan. I like to refer to them. Sometimes it is easier than wading through search results on the web. I find I get a little more detail from the books.
I will then search online. I try to stay with websites that are knowledgable about animals. There can be a lot of misinformation out there.
I participate in forums, too. You can usually find someone who has experience a similar issue with their pet.
Books don't always have the exactly same issues you have. Somewhere out there on the internet there must be someone with similar problems or someone with exactly experience and solution, it is why I prefer to search for solution online. First I use the search engines, then I ask around on forums.
I subscribe to Cat Fancy Magazine and a couple of vet school newsletters to stay up to date with info on cats, but when I have a specific question I ask my vet because that's easier than wading through the internet and not finding what I'm looking for.
(06-15-2012, 05:38 PM)Karenskatz Wrote: I subscribe to Cat Fancy Magazine and a couple of vet school newsletters to stay up to date with info on cats, but when I have a specific question I ask my vet because that's easier than wading through the internet and not finding what I'm looking for.
You have the luxury to ask a vet, because cats are common knowledge for most pet vets. We fish keepers can't do the same. Is there professional fish vet? I don't think so lol. Most "vet" are in fact not knowing anything. Asking fish store employees would be the worst possible choice, since they are taught to tell "lies" by the store owners. "Set up fish tank and let it run 48 hours before adding fish"... that's the standard suggestion by all pet stores, and also by Walmart employees if you buy fish from there. That can't be more wrong. Fish die because of that. There is no real fish vet. We have to look for information online, and ask experienced fish keepers on the forums. That's how I learned everything I know about fish.
When I need to know something about a pet, I start by looking it up in the internet. Then I will go down to visit my vet. He's a very nice guy and is always ready to answer questions. After that I would check with friends who have the same type of pet. This is quite easy to do because I made a lot of friends who keep the same type of pet because we use the same vet.
I usually get all of my information on the internet. I don't know of any good pet books, especially ones that are not for dogs. All the information I got from books were pretty vague and very outdated. It's true that internet is full of misinformation, as it is free for all, but you can easily weed those out by looking long enough. Some forums and internet sites can offer really quality and detailed information, and answer questions I didn't even think of before. You can also hear first-hand experiences of people who have the same kind of pet as you and have gone through a lot with them. There are even some veterinarians that answer questions online, and that's really helpful. There is one think I really don't like coming across, though, and that is people posting threads describing a pretty serious sounding wounds and conditions their pet has, and asking what they should do. For those kind of things I would go directly to the vet, no additional information needed.
I always look online now. It is convenient and easy to be able to get all of your answers from online sources these days and if you are not sure if you have an emergency or not it is a great way to find out information before heading to the vets something minor.
I do miss reading pet books and magazines though and occasionally I will buy a magazine to read, but not very often.
I used to buy books all of the time when I was little and if I got a new pet (hamster, rabbit etc) along with all of the necessary items for my pet I would also buy the 'My First Pet' range of mini books that were excellent to learn and read as a child
I first went looking for pet information after I had decided to keep a cat. I asked my old neighbour who is a real cat lady all the things I could possibly think of. Incidently that lady was also the person that gave me information on how to get a cat and provided me with the address of a trusted cat owner whose cat had given birth to 4 kittens. That neighbour has been a valuable source of information to me.
Secondly I searched the internet whenever I had questions when my neighbour was not around. I find forums to be a good source of information. However when consulting a forum I find it commendable to compare several anwsers in order to come to a conclusion. Not every forum is as trustworthy as the one we are writing on right now.
Last, I also like to consult books because in spite of al the information we can get online nowadays, I still like old fashioned style books because I happen to be a real bookworm.
I look online for information. A book is a great thing if you just want to quickly look up an answer to something, but it never changes with the information that is in the book, whereas the Internet is always updating with new information being uploaded as we learn new things about a topic.
A book only has one opinion, that of the author, so that is all you get from looking there for information, but when you look online, you will find thoughts both pro and con the subject.
So, if you are thinking about giving your pet a vaccination, for example, then you can read about the benefits of doing that, and also about vaccines carrying other diseases, and the dangers that giving them to your pet could cause.
I think it is always good to be able to check out all the information, ad the Internet is usually the est way to do that.
I prefer looking for pet information online and somewhere that has an interactive forum. That way if someone gives incorrect information about a drug or pet food, others can quickly correct it. I would never buy pet food, treats or supplements without reading hundreds of reviews on all different sites. I know some reviews are bogus (people paid to post them), but the majority of reviews will overrule those. You just have to use your gut feeling to tell which are genuine.
