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It's always stuff you wouldn't even think of, like grapes for dogs. A fair few essential oils are bad for cats AFAIK. I'd probably try washing with a mild dish soap.
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Apr 3, 2012 15:08
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My aunt just got two miniature pot belly pigs. She loves them and I'm thinking about getting one myself. Do they make good pets?
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Apr 3, 2012 15:40
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a cloth map posted:My aunt just got two miniature pot belly pigs. She loves them and I'm thinking about getting one myself. Do they make good pets? I've heard that they really are fantastic pets, actually. You do have to be aware that most small-animal (i.e. dog and cat) vets aren't going to know how to care for them, so if you live in an urban or suburban area with no farm vets you may have trouble finding medical care for them. They're very intelligent animals and can be highly destructive if they're not stimulated sufficiently. They like to root around and can use that ability to really wreck a house. I think the males can have a tendency to mark territory as well, but I'm not sure if I'm remembering correctly. Pigs smell. Their bodies aren't so bad (kind of warm and barnyardy), but their poo poo is absolutely awful. They can be house trained after a fashion, but not litter trained or anything like that. But, on the flip side, they're very intelligent and social, and if you give them what they need they can be really sweet animals. They live a decently long time too. Most of my direct experience with pigs is with livestock breeds, but it's been mostly positive. Some of them love to have their ears scratched and will rub up against you like a cat or dog might. I would definitely research it more if I were you, if you're really interested, especially the veterinary aspect, but I think as far as exotic pets go, pigs are one of the least problematic.
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Apr 3, 2012 16:05
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I'd think the main problem with pigs is that they are very smart and need things to do, but you can't take them places and socialize them in the same way you can with a dog. So you'd have to be creative in finding other things to do with them and ways to keep them busy. Also if you ever go anywhere, finding a pig-sitter would be a lot harder than taking a dog to boarding or whatever.
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Apr 3, 2012 17:01
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I love pigs, but I don't think they make good pets for most suburban/urban owners. They can be extremely destructive and stink. They require either a large yard (and possibly house) that can be destroyed, or a ton of time. The concerns about finding a petsitter are really valid too, again, especially considering their need for a lot of stimulation--stopping by twice a day for 20 minutes for the entire week you're on vacation won't really cut it. If you rent, you probably won't find a landlord who is okay with a pig in the house. And even in rural areas it can be difficult to find good vet care for pigs from a pet standpoint--you can easily find a vet to do the basics, but since most farmers aren't going to spend a lot of money fixing an animal who is headed for the dinner plate anyway and will just euthanize it if the problem gets too bad, many vets aren't really prepared to tackle bigger or more complex problems that may arise. In a suburban/urban area it will be very difficult to find a good pig vet. I'm not sure how miniature your aunt's pigs are, but miniature/teacup pigs have a lot of the same types of problems that dogs bred for a tiny size do (namely, not being bred for health or temperament). On top of that, if you're buying a baby, many miniature pig breeders straight-up lie about the projected adult size of the pigs. They can be awesome pets. They're very smart and have really fun personalities. However, unless you literally live on a farm, they require a ton of work that is usually more than the average pet owner wants or is able to give. A lot of pet pigs wind up in bad situations because their owners didn't know what they were getting into.
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Apr 3, 2012 19:02
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Plus_Infinity posted:I'd think the main problem with pigs is that they are very smart and need things to do, but you can't take them places and socialize them in the same way you can with a dog. So you'd have to be creative in finding other things to do with them and ways to keep them busy. Also if you ever go anywhere, finding a pig-sitter would be a lot harder than taking a dog to boarding or whatever. You've obviously never been to a party where someone brought their pig.
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Apr 3, 2012 19:32
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I have a 9 week old shepherd/husky mix. How far can I walk him? I've been doing around two blocks so far, which takes about 20 minutes, but he tends to sometimes get antsy at the end of walks and runs forward more and starts growling at my feet and trying to nip them. Should I be walking him shorter distances? I'm doing this twice a day.
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Apr 3, 2012 21:47
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I would have assumed the worst thing about a pig is finding a landlord who'll let you keep it. Definitely the kind of pet I'd put off until I owned my own place. Nothing like getting uprooted and having to find "pig-friendly apartment" on 60 days or whatever.
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Apr 4, 2012 00:49
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I hope this is the right place. I've only posted a few times on PI  My cat back home, Noah, is going on about 13 years now (had to do the math, we adopted his Mother when I was in 4th grade and I recall Noah and his siblings being born about a year later). He's been slipping off tables/chairs a bit more often now. He doesn't seem to jump up on chairs or come upstairs to my room as much (bless his heart he tries). And he definitely moves slower. The concern is possible osteoarthritis. My question isn't what should I do because the answer is simple and easy; take him to the vet so a professional can look him over. Because it could just be old age. But, hypothetically speaking, if he does, in fact, have osteoarthritis (or arthritic-like pain), what can my Parents and I do to help ease him of his pain? Kind of a long shot and a very, very vague question, sorry. He also seems to be throwing up more often in the past year. We switched to sensitive-stomach cat food and it helped but he still does every few days. Only seems to be partially digested food. Another thing I need to bring up to the vet. We haven't been as worried as his coat is perfect and he's maintained his weight (13lbs but he has one hell of a big frame so he is definitely not a fat-cat). He is an indoor/outdoor cat and has been since he was able to see and crawl around (obviously it was with supervision; most of it seemed to be his Mother). But has always been very active (he even caught and killed a bat mid-air in our house a few years back). So yeah I'm rather dense.
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Apr 4, 2012 03:04
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Rickycat posted:I hope this is the right place. I've only posted a few times on PI
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Apr 4, 2012 03:50
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A pet pig sounds a lot like a teenage boy. If a landlord allows teenage boys, they should allow pigs.
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Apr 4, 2012 04:26
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Irish Revenge posted:I have a 9 week old shepherd/husky mix. How far can I walk him? I've been doing around two blocks so far, which takes about 20 minutes, but he tends to sometimes get antsy at the end of walks and runs forward more and starts growling at my feet and trying to nip them. Should I be walking him shorter distances? I'm doing this twice a day. There aren't any set rules for walking. It does sound like he's getting kind of tired at the end - dogs, like kids, get grumpy and wired when tired. Just remember to be careful where you walk him until he's had all his shots. Parvo sucks. Avoid direct contact with places commonly visited by strange dogs.
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Apr 4, 2012 14:16
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Rickycat posted:I hope this is the right place. I've only posted a few times on PI When we took our 13 year old cat in for her jumping problems (pretty much exactly what you described) she was prescribed Cosequin for cats, sprinkled over some wet food. We started with 1 a day, then moved to every other day after a couple of months. But definitely get him in for an old age check. Vomiting could mean kidney problems.
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Apr 4, 2012 15:15
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What do I do about stringy poop that hangs out from my dogs butt? It happens constantly (almost everyday), sometimes it might just be a dingleberry type deal, sometimes its a chunk hanging by a hair or whatever, fibery part of the poop (yea I know youre not really supposed to pull it out). My family walks her and if they try messing with it, they get bitten. She haates her rear end being messed with. It happens almost every day, is there any maybe supplement I can use to make it go easier?
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Apr 4, 2012 17:51
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Try adding more fiber to her diet, via canned pumpkin.
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Apr 4, 2012 18:16
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a life less posted:There aren't any set rules for walking. It does sound like he's getting kind of tired at the end - dogs, like kids, get grumpy and wired when tired. Just remember to be careful where you walk him until he's had all his shots. Parvo sucks. Avoid direct contact with places commonly visited by strange dogs. He;'s good to go on shots. But now at the end of walks he starts pulling ahead, and starts growling and trying to nip at my feet. He also this week has started biting people when he is antsy and they pick him up, and has shown more aggression. I am really upset that he is going to turn out to be an aggressive dog. I'm going to talk to my trainer this week about it, and I am trying to exercise him as much as possible and socialize him, but that is difficult to do when you're worried about him biting new people.
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Apr 4, 2012 18:56
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Irish Revenge posted:He;'s good to go on shots. But now at the end of walks he starts pulling ahead, and starts growling and trying to nip at my feet. He also this week has started biting people when he is antsy and they pick him up, and has shown more aggression. I am really upset that he is going to turn out to be an aggressive dog. I'm going to talk to my trainer this week about it, and I am trying to exercise him as much as possible and socialize him, but that is difficult to do when you're worried about him biting new people. In the mean time, you need to make sure that you are showing the dog that nipping and biting during play time etc is inappropriate. Don't pick him up or let other people pick him up. Make sure, given what you said about the dog earlier on, that you are using positive reinforcement based training and that you and your trainer are on top of the human aggressiveness that GSDs can have.
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Apr 4, 2012 19:01
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Irish Revenge posted:He;'s good to go on shots. But now at the end of walks he starts pulling ahead, and starts growling and trying to nip at my feet. He also this week has started biting people when he is antsy and they pick him up, and has shown more aggression. I am really upset that he is going to turn out to be an aggressive dog. I'm going to talk to my trainer this week about it, and I am trying to exercise him as much as possible and socialize him, but that is difficult to do when you're worried about him biting new people. What kind of biting are we talking about here? Puppy tantrums? Play biting? True aggression? Understand that there are lots of reasons dogs bite, and most aren't due to anything malicious or dangerous. However it's great that you're being proactive and talking to a trainer. In the mean time, go check out the Dog Training Megathread for some ideas on how to approach unwanted behaviour: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3364451
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Apr 4, 2012 20:07
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Hi all, My boyfriend and I are trying to help out a stray cat that has been hanging out around our apartment building. She's been around for a few months and while at first we thought she might have been someone's pet, she's not being cared for (super matted fur on her back, very very skinny) and so we're looking to get her to either a rescue (once they get back to me and tell me if they have room) or maybe a friend or family member who will have her. We unfortunately can't keep her as our apartment is *strictly* no animals. (which is breaking my heart, I'd love her!) I'm trying to find out the best way to get her inside and into a carrier? She'll step into the apartment just inside the door (our back door leads straight out into a communal space) but is very skittish. I'm afraid that if I try to close the door and she slips out, she'll bolt and never step in again. Help me wrangle this pretty kitty please! And two pics, one of her poor matted fur,  and one of how pretty she is!  (she doesn't look so skinny, but underneath that fur I can feel her spine and hip bones  )
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Apr 4, 2012 21:17
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So my family has been taking care of these two dogs while my aunt is currently out of town. Anyways, my dad went ahead and fed them some food scraps containing some bones, including fish bones. I've looked online and it seems like the general consensus is that you really really should not feed them fish bones (and cooked chicken bones, but in this case we're talking about fish bones). My dad is pretty sure they can eat it, by citing examples like "oh yeah cats can eat fish in the wild, that's no problem, and besides, they grind up the stuff they eat" but I'm not too sure yet. I figure I'd ask here to see what the opinion/facts are here. I pulled them away from the scrap pile that my dad left them for now, but they still got away with eating a bit, and the slightly bigger dog got away with a whole section of fish bones. So uh... normal, bad, or really bad?
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Apr 4, 2012 22:02
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dopaMEAN posted:When we took our 13 year old cat in for her jumping problems (pretty much exactly what you described) she was prescribed Cosequin for cats, sprinkled over some wet food. We started with 1 a day, then moved to every other day after a couple of months. Will do. We took him in a few months back because he got into a fight with a stray and had a rather deep tooth indent in his coat. Had gotten a bit infected before we could see the vet. She scrubbed it raw and was surprised because, while Noah tensed up, he didn't make a peep or any movement away from it. And it looked like it hurt like a bitch. God knows I'd be in tears. He was pretty good about having a pill shot in the back of his throat twice daily, too (when we had Ricky, he had to take heart medication for about 4 years before he died. That cat got drat good at hiding the pill and spitting it out after 5 minutes).
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Apr 5, 2012 05:52
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CAT rear end NOT OK! Poor Nyanko-chan. She just rubbed her but across the floor, and I thought she had a case of poo-butt, but it left no streak behind. Then she did it again. So I looked at her rear end, and it's really swollen. But it's not red at all. I'm calling the vet first thing in the morning. If it's not something simple like clogged anal glands, what else could it be?
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Apr 5, 2012 07:07
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Just got back from the vet. Vet said kitty's paw was infected but he didn't want to anesthetize a cat that old so he lanced and drained it without putting him under. Cat was not happy but at least it's cleaned up now. He has a heart murmur now though so we have to watch for signs of heart trouble. Of course, I brought him inside to make sure his paw was okay and he immediately vomited on my carpet, the fucker. Still love him! 
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Apr 6, 2012 17:26
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My wife is expressing increasing interest in returning to The Netherlands - paying $1000 for a doctor to examine a baby with a 3-day fever may have been the last straw. We currently live in California. However, she is balking because she's not sure how she's transport her menagerie of cats and dogs. Three of her cats are in their mid-teens, and one is a diabetic who gets insulin twice a day. Might anyone know of a safe, humane way to ship this animals into The Netherlands?
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Apr 6, 2012 20:03
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I need advice on switching my cat off of prescription food. When I first got him, he was on Purina garbage food and I swapped him over to Wellness (mostly dry with a small service of wet food in the evenings). It was only about a month later that his urinary issues cropped up, but it was relatively minor. He was put on Rx food, but six months ago at his checkup my vet let me know that I could take him off the Rx since it's not optimal for him to eat it for the rest of his life. Now I'm looking to slowly phase him back onto a better food, but I'm not sure which to choose. He eats pretty much only kibble right now, but I'm definitely going to to reintroduce wet food into his diet. I don't want to put him on an all wet food diet because he though he's a hoggy eater and gets his morning meal in a puzzle ball to keep him from wolfing it down and barfing it back up. Has anyone ever successfully transitioned their cat off of Rx urinary food? I'd love to hear anyone's advice on it. I know all about the premium cat foods, but I'm hesitant to make the jump from lovely food to high quality food again and have the issue repeat itself.
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Apr 6, 2012 22:34
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Serella posted:I need advice on switching my cat off of prescription food. When I first got him, he was on Purina garbage food and I swapped him over to Wellness (mostly dry with a small service of wet food in the evenings). It was only about a month later that his urinary issues cropped up, but it was relatively minor. He was put on Rx food, but six months ago at his checkup my vet let me know that I could take him off the Rx since it's not optimal for him to eat it for the rest of his life. I just went through this with my ridiculously picky cat. He literally starved himself for a week rather than eat the food I put in front of him. He has urinary issues too but I hate that prescription garbage so I wanted him off of it. The thing is is that for a cat with urinary issues, even crappy grocery store wet food is better than high quality dry food, so find ANY wet food that he'll eat. My cat finally gave in for Friskies. I gave him only Friskies for about a week, then slowly started sneaking in a spoonful of the high quality food I wanted him on. Once he got used to that, I put more in, and so on and so forth until he was fully transitioned to this stuff:  Now he eats it like a champ and hasn't had any blockages, crystals, or UTIs.
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Apr 6, 2012 23:41
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So today, I found a dog! My boyfriend and I were driving to my house, and saw her taking herself for a walk. We immediately turned around and picked her up, looked around the neighbourhood and didn't see any open gates or anything obvious, so we decided I'll keep her until we find her home. She has a tag with a phone number, but the phone number leads to a vet in a different province. I left a message asking them to call me Since it's the long weekend, I can't take her to get checked for a microchip until either tomorrow (if the vet is open) or Tuesday. I bought her some Orijen, have water set out for her, got some treats as well. Lucky for me, she gives no fucks that I have cats, and is content to just hang out with me. I hope I can find her owner, she's a super sweet, chilled out dog, knows basic commands, and looks well loved. Is there anything obvious that I'm missing? -Food: check -Water: check -Safe to leave alone for brief periods: check -Planning on checking for microchip: check 
uptown fucked around with this message at 00:49 on Apr 7, 2012 |
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Apr 7, 2012 00:42
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Advice would be greatly appreciated here... We have a foster dog. It's a 2 year old female german shepherd/beagle mix. She's sweet and very forgiving of our dogs (never starts a fight with them or anything), but she seems either very hard headed or just doesn't want to listen. We continually tell her to get off the bed, and she knows to get off of it, but then 5 seconds later she'll just jump back on like it's no big thing and like the last conversation never happened. When we do correct her because she's jumping on us, she just wags her tail and never seems 'down' that we're trying to correct her. We're continuing to work on that stuff, but the main thing that we have no idea how to correct is this. We were told by her previous owner that she favors men to women. Well, whenever I come home and let her out to go outside, she immediately pees in excitement. The first time was my fault, because I was excited and acknowledged her, but since then I've completely avoided her, turned my back to her, everything, and yet she still pees when she sees me, if I'm the one to let her out after my wife and I return home, or if I'm the first one home from work for the day. Normally, my wife is home first, and has only recently had the same thing (nervous/excited peeing) happen once. Any idea how to correct that or any of the above, really? We're brand new to these types of species, as we've had small dogs and some labradors in the past, but that's it.
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Apr 8, 2012 03:24
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Any ideas for luring a mean cat out from under some garage stairs? I'm fostering this enormous cat who managed to get under the stairs in my garage and I can't reach him to get him out. Plus if I touch him he'll claw the poo poo out of me. I've tried luring him out with some warmed up stinky wet food and he is not budging. I have to get him to the vet tomorrow afternoon.
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Apr 8, 2012 22:31
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If you can get a buddy to help you, grab a towel, some gloves, and a broom. One person dons the gloves and holds the towel near the largest available opening, and the other prods the cat with the handle of the broom. Don't stab the cat with it, you don't want to hurt him, but just kind of press against him with it until it's too uncomfortable to ignore. Nine times out of ten the cat will dart out of the opening and the towel-wielder can grab him.
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Apr 9, 2012 20:06
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It's hairball season, and I have two two-year-old long haired cats who like to puke up hairballs this time of year like it's going out of style! I had heard cat grass would help them with their hairballs, so I got some seeds and grew some. However, both cats are wildly disinterested in their cat grass, to put it lightly. Does anyone know a way to get my cats interested in their cat grass, or if it's worth my time to get them interested in cat grass? Along those lines, if anyone has any anti-hairball tips, I would also greatly appreciate those! I know there are pastes and such to help with hairballs, but my husband and I work such weird, non regular schedules that I wouldn't be able to give them the paste at regular times or more than once a day. We got some anti-hairball fish flavored gel from our vet a while ago, but it requires us to give it to the cats at regular intervals during the day for x number of days, before switching to y number of times every z number of days, which doesn't really work with our schedules.
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Apr 9, 2012 20:27
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Niemat posted:It's hairball season, and I have two two-year-old long haired cats who like to puke up hairballs this time of year like it's going out of style! I had heard cat grass would help them with their hairballs, so I got some seeds and grew some. However, both cats are wildly disinterested in their cat grass, to put it lightly. Does anyone know a way to get my cats interested in their cat grass, or if it's worth my time to get them interested in cat grass? Are your cats catnip-motivated? You could try sprinkling some catnip on it or spraying it with catnip oil to get their attention,
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Apr 10, 2012 01:31
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Any advice for softer toys for toy-destroyers? I have hell finding toys my dog won't rip to shreds. I have kongs, but she doesn't pay them much attention unless they're stuffed. She likes softer toys and ropes, but she shreds them.
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Apr 10, 2012 02:33
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Kerafyrm posted:Any advice for softer toys for toy-destroyers? I have hell finding toys my dog won't rip to shreds. I have kongs, but she doesn't pay them much attention unless they're stuffed. She likes softer toys and ropes, but she shreds them. My dog does the same thing,and I've tried everything right up to the advertised toughest stuffed toys and kong toys. Nothing has held up. If you are okay with it, supervise play and discard toys often. (Watch your wallet shrink. Ask yourself why you spend more on dog toys than you do yourself. Repeat. This is how I deal with it).
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Apr 10, 2012 03:38
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Maybe just buy a big spool of cotton rope at wholesale and twist your own rope toys out of it? Likewise you could buy a big parcel of sturdy cloth and sew simple toys with it. McMaster-Carr sells a lot of materials very cheaply: Cotton Rope Cotton Duck
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Apr 10, 2012 04:13
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Hah, that's actually a great idea and I don't know why I didn't think of it before. Thanks.
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Apr 10, 2012 04:57
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I'm a total worrywart and am going out of town for 2 days/ 1 night and am looking for a boarding place for my dog. There are two 24-hour staffed facilities near me but they don't allow evening pickup on weekends (if you can't pick the dog up before 1pm then you have to board them for another full night). It seems crazy to me, if someone is there, why can't I go pick up my dog and take him home? So, I found 4 different board-from-home places near me that look to be hobbies/ part-time jobs for these people. They all want to do an evaluation of my dog first and I'll be going to their houses and checking them out, but what kinds of questions should I be asking?
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Apr 10, 2012 15:12
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My 8 month old basset/beagle mix started drooling excessively today- like soaking the couch cushions bad. He is acting normal, eating, drinking, peeing, and pooping with no issues. The only major change with him is i have started taking him and his sister to the dog park, but we have been going for a week and this drooling issue started today. He even let me check his mouth out and his teeth don't seem to be bothering him. I'm taking him to the vet in the morning regardless, but I was just curious if anyone might be able to give me an idea of what could be wrong with him, or if I am just worrying too much.
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Apr 11, 2012 05:00
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Earlier today I saw that my cat had dragged an assortment of objects from around the house into her litter tray, including two unmatched shoes and a scarf. Cleaning it out, I found something liquidy splattered down the inside of the tray. It looked like a patch of black paint or melted plastic. The stuff had dried on there like glue. I actually wondered if it somehow *was* melted plastic off a shoe sole, or maybe oil or something, because it seriously didn't look organic. When I scraped a bit off to figure out what the gently caress, I took a small sniff and instantly dry-heaved. Rotten eggs and expired milk have nothing on this monstrous stench, it was seriously that awful. When I washed it off the tray I had to use boiling water to get it unstuck, and even then it didn't dissolve but had to be scraped away with the litter scoop. What the gently caress was that and did it seriously come out of my cat?  She seems totally fine. Maybe a little sleepier than usual, but it's raining which always pisses her off. Mostly she's been following me about the house and then lying like a slob across whatever I'm working on. Nothing to indicate she's given birth to an alien or whatever.
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Apr 11, 2012 13:20
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Niemat posted:It's hairball season, and I have two two-year-old long haired cats who like to puke up hairballs this time of year like it's going out of style! I had heard cat grass would help them with their hairballs, so I got some seeds and grew some. However, both cats are wildly disinterested in their cat grass, to put it lightly. Does anyone know a way to get my cats interested in their cat grass, or if it's worth my time to get them interested in cat grass? This may seem obvious, but have you tried just brushing them? Just buy a regular hairbrush, the kind with hard bristles, and go at them for a few minutes every couple of days. Keep a wastepaper bin nearby to dispose of the masses and masses of seemingly infinite cat hair. Cats also love being brushed, it's a key social element to them, like apes picking nits off each other. They will adore the crap out of you for it. I had a bad flea problem in my last place, and flea-combed my cat every day. In the new place she was flea-free, so I stopped, and a month later she produced her first ever hairball. I'd never seen one before, took me a while to figure out what the hell she just puked up. She also seemed more withdrawn and depressed during that time (as far as you can tell in a cat), but after I started brushing her again she perked right the gently caress up and started acting like a snuggley kitten.
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Apr 11, 2012 13:34
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