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Silver Nitrate posted:Valerian root is the one herbal thing that I know works for sure, not sure about other stuff though. We used to use it on horses, haha. We're definitely going the play-during-the-day route for the time being. He's been pretty obnoxious the past few nights, but nothing to warrant doping him up (in my opinion at least, my girlfriend is a little less forgiving). If we do ever go that route, we'll certainly be using something other than the 'Calm Down for cats' stuff, which we've already returned to the store - that poo poo was expensive! I'm still kind of bothered by the fact that an alcohol tincture is being sold as medicine for cats, even if the recommended dosages are miniscule... Thanks for the feedback everyone 
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Feb 8, 2012 09:19
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I have a friend who is looking into purchasing a "muscle dog" for his family. These are those grossly swole dogs that look like photoshops. Some google-fu has revealed some concerns over vastly shortened life spans. However most of these opinions are from random forums. Can anybody C/D the shorter life spans of these dogs from a reputable source?
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Feb 8, 2012 09:39
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Orbis Tertius posted:We're definitely going the play-during-the-day route for the time being. He's been pretty obnoxious the past few nights, but nothing to warrant doping him up (in my opinion at least, my girlfriend is a little less forgiving). If we do ever go that route, we'll certainly be using something other than the 'Calm Down for cats' stuff, which we've already returned to the store - that poo poo was expensive!
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Feb 8, 2012 14:36
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Ceridwen posted:Rescue remedy is crap too. I've seen Rescue Remedy being used on hedgehogs, and it did appear to help. Hanging a chamomile herbal tea bag near an overly-excited hedgehog has done wonders for calming the animal down.
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Feb 8, 2012 19:17
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BRB MAKIN BACON posted:I have a friend who is looking into purchasing a "muscle dog" for his family. These are those grossly swole dogs that look like photoshops. Some google-fu has revealed some concerns over vastly shortened life spans. However most of these opinions are from random forums. Can anybody C/D the shorter life spans of these dogs from a reputable source? Someone may be able to, but I feel the need to warn you, you can almost never change people's minds on stuff like this, especially if they're buying into those nasty meat piles as TUFF DAWGZ. Instead, you might have luck showing him retarded dogs like this from shelters that need homes. Morons are always dumping their monstrosities like this into shelters or on craigslist.
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Feb 8, 2012 19:23
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BRB MAKIN BACON posted:I have a friend who is looking into purchasing a "muscle dog" for his family. These are those grossly swole dogs that look like photoshops. Some google-fu has revealed some concerns over vastly shortened life spans. However most of these opinions are from random forums. Can anybody C/D the shorter life spans of these dogs from a reputable source? The "breeders" for lack of a better term, sell those depressing excuses for dogs for thousands of dollars, how much money does he have to burn? And I'm not aware of any official studies done, but their lifespans and overall health are definitely poo poo. 5-7 years iirc.  They're also probably going to have problems similar to english bulldogs, with heart, hip and knee/ebow issues. So I hope he has a huge savings account.
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Feb 8, 2012 20:13
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...I thought the muscle dog thing (like that whippet?) was a genetic DEFECT.
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Feb 8, 2012 20:29
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Are those dogs usually whippets? Always? Because on top of the whole genetic defect and premature death thing...I mean, I just have a hard time taking whippets seriously as big tough terrifying dawgs. (e. I mean specifically the dogs with that myostatin mutation weirdness.) Andrias Scheuchzeri fucked around with this message at 20:59 on Feb 8, 2012 |
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Feb 8, 2012 20:50
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Malalol posted:...I thought the muscle dog thing (like that whippet?) was a genetic DEFECT. I'm pretty sure he's talking about those big nasty bully dogs that look like hippos.
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Feb 9, 2012 00:00
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Yeah I just assumed he meant hippos. Only the most extreme hippos have english bulldog level problems, the average hippo has an alright lifespan and no more health problems than anything else prone to various dysplasias and heat sensitivity. They DO have unpredictable temperaments and are unable to do much besides sit around and are stupid for a myriad of reasons unreleated to their health. If they really want an ugly pointless hippo, just tell them to grab one of the bazillion that the last idiots who wanted abomination left at the shelter.
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Feb 9, 2012 00:29
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Superconsndar posted:Yeah I just assumed he meant hippos. Only the most extreme hippos have english bulldog level problems, the average hippo has an alright lifespan and no more health problems than anything else prone to various dysplasias and heat sensitivity. They DO have unpredictable temperaments and are unable to do much besides sit around and are stupid for a myriad of reasons unreleated to their health. If they really want an ugly pointless hippo, just tell them to grab one of the bazillion that the last idiots who wanted abomination left at the shelter. Agreeing with this. There are probably lots of dogs at the shelter your friend would want. No need to pay someone money for breeding these things. And even if there isn't, they should avoid these loving hippo dogs. If your friend really wants a 'muscle' dog, just show 'em a picture of Moses looking all ripped. 
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Feb 9, 2012 00:35
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How long should I expect an 11 month old puppy to hold her bladder at night? Do I need to set an alarm half way through the night to take her out?
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Feb 9, 2012 15:23
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Since Lola is a short-legged, fast-moving little dog, she is pretty much constantly filthy when we come back from a walk. I dry her off with a towel where possible, but quite a lot of the time she's covered from head to toe in mud, and needs a shower. If I'm just cleaning her off with the shower, and not using any shampoo (I don't use shampoo more than once every couple months, unless she's smelling particularly gross), is it okay? I know you're not supposed to wash dogs too much, but does that include washing without shampoo/etc? 
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Feb 9, 2012 16:21
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Dancingthroughlife posted:How long should I expect an 11 month old puppy to hold her bladder at night? Do I need to set an alarm half way through the night to take her out? The rule of thumb is one hour per month of age. This can vary depending on size, but by that age pretty much any dog should be able to hold it through the night.
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Feb 9, 2012 17:44
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Thanks
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Feb 9, 2012 18:21
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Fraction posted:Since Lola is a short-legged, fast-moving little dog, she is pretty much constantly filthy when we come back from a walk. I dry her off with a towel where possible, but quite a lot of the time she's covered from head to toe in mud, and needs a shower. She'll be fine. It would only be a problem if you used soap every time.
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Feb 9, 2012 19:36
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I think I'm going to take Tallulah to the vet on Wednesday. Shes a pretty dense, bit overweight cat. The vet didn't mention anything about her needing to lose any weight when she saw him back in December, but she seems to breath pretty heavily most of the time and I'm worried that maybe something is wrong with her. Am I being a big worrywart? She plays just fine, gets the zoomies regularly, but she just seems to.. breathe heavy.
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Feb 11, 2012 04:44
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I hope this isn't addressed somewhere else, but I wanted to know if anyone has had experience with belly bands. We just moved to a new apartment (we unfortunately have moved a lot in the last few years). My 5 year old corgi has decided that our bedroom is a great place to pee - on the side of the dresser, the corners of the bed, sides of my laundry hamper, etc. Basic marking behavior. He is crate trained so he doesn't have the opportunity to do it when we're not here, but when we are here he sneaks off sometimes to mark. A Petco employee mentioned belly bands and I wondered if they were effective.
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Feb 11, 2012 21:29
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noelcat posted:I hope this isn't addressed somewhere else, but I wanted to know if anyone has had experience with belly bands. We just moved to a new apartment (we unfortunately have moved a lot in the last few years). My 5 year old corgi has decided that our bedroom is a great place to pee - on the side of the dresser, the corners of the bed, sides of my laundry hamper, etc. Basic marking behavior. Well, it should keep pee from getting on your stuff, but it won't train the dog. If he was previously housebroken and this behavior is new, it would be a good idea to bring him to the vet.
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Feb 11, 2012 22:01
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This is a combination E/N and animal question. Has anyone had PTSD-like symptoms regarding animal neglect and abuse in their life? Growing up my parents would get us small animals like hamsters, but they would never look after them and expected a 6 year old to be held 100% responsible. I have nightmares about once or twice a month dreaming about being in the garage of my old house. The cages there would be full of feces with dying animals in them. I am there trying to rescue them but there is just too many for me to do at once. I still have nightmares about my sister's rabbit, who lived off on nothing but rabbit pellets, and in inches of feces and gunk. How does one get over this besides therapy? I feel so isolated because most of my peers (pre-vet peeps), all grew up in a positive environment involving animals, and/or had animal lover parents. It makes it so hard to relate, I guess my question is, has anyone in P.I dealt with animal abuse/neglect in their childhood, and what are some strategies to cope with these experiences?
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Feb 11, 2012 22:25
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Without getting too much into it, I have definitely dealt with that. The only thing that I found works is therapy, even then I still have nightmares about it. Good luck, and I'm sorry your parents suck. Just remember that you were a little kid, there's nothing you could have done at the time, and you can't change what happened. My advice is to just love your pets extra, that's what I do. It helps.
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Feb 11, 2012 22:52
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Double post because my phone sucks. I'll be getting my internet hooked back up in the next week or two, would it be a good idea to start a new thread? I see a lot of the same questions popping up. I'd like to make a new OP that addresses these questions. I'm not even sure if that's allowed.
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Feb 11, 2012 22:58
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Olive Bar posted:Without getting too much into it, I have definitely dealt with that. The only thing that I found works is therapy, even then I still have nightmares about it. Good luck, and I'm sorry your parents suck. Just remember that you were a little kid, there's nothing you could have done at the time, and you can't change what happened. My advice is to just love your pets extra, that's what I do. It helps. Yeah p much this. My parents have histories of what have to be criminal levels of animal abuse and neglect and the horror stories I have about the animals I grew up with could fill a book. I have had the exact same "house filling with dying animals" dream over and over again for most of my life, though since I've gotten my anxiety and depression under control, they've become few and far between. Knowing that I take great care of my pets as an adult helps a lot too, but it's something that will probably always bother me, especially when my anxiety flares up. If it's really affecting you, therapy can only help. Something that I struggle with, and that it helps to remember, is that, like Olive Bar said, it isn't your fault. You were a kid and had no control over what your parents did with the animals in your household. That's a tough one, at least for me, but it's true- as a child, you were just as much at the mercy of your parents as the animals in their care were, and it isn't your fault that they ended up the way they did.
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Feb 11, 2012 23:11
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Baika posted:How does one get over this besides therapy? I feel so isolated because most of my peers (pre-vet peeps), all grew up in a positive environment involving animals, and/or had animal lover parents. I don't think you should worry about finding ways to get over it "besides therapy." Sounds like you're a student - most campuses offer free therapy to their students. I would definitely take advantage of it. With therapy as a starting point, you can get to where you can handle your experiences better outside of therapy.
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Feb 12, 2012 00:18
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noelcat posted:I hope this isn't addressed somewhere else, but I wanted to know if anyone has had experience with belly bands. We just moved to a new apartment (we unfortunately have moved a lot in the last few years). My 5 year old corgi has decided that our bedroom is a great place to pee - on the side of the dresser, the corners of the bed, sides of my laundry hamper, etc. Basic marking behavior. My roommate has pugs, and the old male, before he died, used belly bands all the time, partly because he was incontinent, and partly because even before that, he tended to want to mark the furniture as he got older. They worked really well for her. In order for them not to leak she'd line them with a Depends or other extra absorbent sanitary napkin, otherwise they'd leak and somewhat defeat the purpose. She had a bunch of them so that she could put a fresh one on him a couple times a day, or more if it got damp. He didn't seem at all bothered by them and didn't try and get them off, though sometimes if he was more active than usual there was some slippage. Also echoing what the other poster said about if this is new behavior you should probably see a Vet.
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Feb 12, 2012 01:27
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This behavior isn't necessarily new for him, as every place we move into he starts marking. He has a clean bill of health from the vet for his yearly exam, so I'm not worried about that. The Petco girl told me that the belly band would train because the dog would 'give up' after trying to mark and not seeing any results. It wouldn't really be that great if it didn't train, though.
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Feb 12, 2012 03:09
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noelcat posted:
wrong e; it will teach him about urine burns though
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Feb 12, 2012 03:13
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noelcat posted:This behavior isn't necessarily new for him, as every place we move into he starts marking. He has a clean bill of health from the vet for his yearly exam, so I'm not worried about that. That's not true. The puppy thread should have lots of advice on housetraining your dog, even though he's an adult. You're going to want to take him out really frequently and probably tether him until he's trained. Is he neutered?
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Feb 12, 2012 06:50
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noelcat posted:The Petco girl told me that the belly band would train because the dog would 'give up' after trying to mark and not seeing any results. It wouldn't really be that great if it didn't train, though. Pretty sure the Petco girl is misinformed. Bandit, my roomie's dog, wore that belly band for at least 5 - 6 years. It never stopped him. With that belly band on, he'd go through the whole marking behavior....sniffing, lifting his leg, peeing (into the belly band), moving to the next piece of furniture, peeing, lifting his leg etc.
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Feb 12, 2012 14:30
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Crazy cat people. What are your cats favorite toys? I recently got my cats the Bergan Turbo Scratcher and they love this thing even more than I thought they would.  I had a similar thing that was completely enclosed and smaller, that they never really played with, but this one they will play with in the middle of the night and fight over it. My one cat will just lay on the thing so the other cats can't play with it so that he can have it for himself. I've considered getting one of the other similar Bergan products, one being the Turbo Track and the other the Catnip Hurricane. But they are pretty similar toys to the Turbo Scratcher. I'm pretty sure the Hurricane is just the Turbo Scratcher with an insert, and that you can actually just buy the insert for it. My cats like the cardboard scratcher part, so I'd have to get a whole new product. Anyone have either of these?   What other toys do your cats like? I'm kind of looking for things that they can play with by themselves and ones that don't require batteries (or have lasers since my OCD dog will not be able to sleep for a week if she sees it), but I'd like to hear about everything. My 5 kitty boys and I thank you.
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Feb 12, 2012 19:07
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So my cat has this little game she plays with me, where she miraculously gets her cat food into her water dish. Forcing me to change her water every twenty minutes because I don't like the thought of her drinking soiled water. It's starting to piss me off. I have tried elevating her water dish, I've tried putting it on the opposite side of my apartment, I've tried getting a deeper water dish with high rims, I am out of options. How the gently caress do I make my cat stop doing this?
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Feb 13, 2012 01:35
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I had a cat that liked to do this and moving the water dish away from the food worked for me, but it sounds like you tried that. Your cats a determined little jerk. I'm not sure what your next option is. Maybe a different kind of bowl? Like a fountain one? Not sure what that would do, but cats are weird. I wonder if putting the water across the house and with some obstacles would help? Like if he would have to jump in a tub or on a cabinet to get to the water? I'll continue thinking about it though, and maybe someone else will have an idea.
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Feb 13, 2012 01:45
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/\/\/\/\ I think this kind of set up would turn into some awesome kind of Skinner maze as she seems so dead set on doing this just to gently caress with me. While I am sure a video of the obstacle course I set up between my cat's food dish and her waterbowl and her traverse of said barrier would be something this forum would love to death. I would really just like to be able to stay in my chair for more than twenty minutes at a time. If you imagine a large living room, her food is in the far northeast corner and her water is in the far southwest corner. I have come home from class to see her walking across the living room with kibble in her mouth and just drop it into the bowl with her eyes locked on mine.  Defiant little poo poo! 
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Feb 13, 2012 01:52
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LOL...I'm pretty sure you have to do this now. It must involve tubes, jumps, weaves, balance bars. DO IT! I had another cat that like to put toys in the water for a while. I came home one time to this horrible electronic weird noise and went to the water to find that he had put one of the battery powered chirping mice toys in the water, and it was dying a slow painful death.
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Feb 13, 2012 01:58
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Jenner posted:/\/\/\/\ I'm having trouble understanding the problem. Change her water only as frequently as you normally would. If she wants to drink clean, kibble-free water, she'll stop putting kibble in it.
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Feb 13, 2012 03:23
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Does she eat the food after its been in the water? She might be having teeth trouble and is trying to soften up her food
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Feb 13, 2012 03:34
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My parents' cat has always done this. She purposefully scoops the kibble out with her paw and into the water bowl. We call it "making soup."
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Feb 13, 2012 05:53
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If this is more suitable for the puppy thread I can move it there, but from the skimming I did it seems like it wouldn't quite fit in there: After asking my parents for a dog since I was 6 and not getting one, I'm finally in a position as a real-life self-sustaining adult to get myself a dawg this summer  I'm planning on getting a shelter dog or looking for a rescue. I don't want to shell out money for a puppy from a breeder and deal with puppy bullshit for my first dog (hence why this isn't puppy-thread material, and also money otherwise spent on a puppy can go to buying all the toys for my rescue dawg). I am also going to be living in an apartment for the foreseeable future, and I own a chinchilla. Since the chinchilla was here first, it's not fair to make him uncomfortable living with something that wants to eat him. The dog would be crated during the day, or the chinchilla closed off in his own room when I'm not home. I wanted a corgi or a greyhound, but neither seem like they'd be a good fit (corgis bark at everything and my neighbors would hate me; greyhounds have a high prey drive from what I've read). So basically what I'm asking is are there any sort of breeds that work well in apartments and don't have a high prey drive? Any ones I should avoid in particular?
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Feb 13, 2012 06:38
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2508084 posted:Does she eat the food after its been in the water? She might be having teeth trouble and is trying to soften up her food No, she just lets it sit there and get huge and puffy and make the water all nasty. But, you raise an interesting concern. I'll have the vet check her teeth. I feed her a few of those cat treats that clean the teeth every day, but maybe that's not enough? Aquatic Giraffe posted:So basically what I'm asking is are there any sort of breeds that work well in apartments and don't have a high prey drive? Any ones I should avoid in particular? Pit Bulls  No really, get a Pit Mutt, they're the sweetest most lovable and chill as gently caress ever as long as the mutt breed isn't anything too spastic. Another chill as gently caress breed is a Weimaraner, a friend of mine had one and that dog would not bark at poo poo. She had a nine year old kid that just harassed this dog to no end and it just laid there and gave no fucks. You want something not pure bred though? Get yourself a black dog. Black dogs have a rough go of it. And the mix don't matter, all black dogs are the sweetest and most awesome of dogs. Jenner fucked around with this message at 07:25 on Feb 13, 2012 |
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Feb 13, 2012 07:23
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Jenner posted:So my cat has this little game she plays with me, where she miraculously gets her cat food into her water dish. Forcing me to change her water every twenty minutes because I don't like the thought of her drinking soiled water. It's starting to piss me off. Some cats like to see the surface of the water move so they can judge where the top is. A fountain (even a cheapo home made one) might solve your problem.
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Feb 13, 2012 07:56
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