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Carebear posted:My boyfriend wants to get a small dog - a hypoallergenic one due to his roommates having allergies, so I recommended a havanese, shih tzu, or chinese crested to him. I'm mostly familiar with shih tzus, but I was wondering which one of these breeds would be easiest to housebreak? Poodles are pretty good too, and they don't shed much. Don't get anything smaller than a toy. There is a size or two in between toy and standard that should work. I've had poodles and they are very smart dogs. Some people I know have had annoying neurotic ones, but they have been the very small varieties, ill trained or had a bad temperament to begin with. My last one was very sweet from the beginning, never yappy and trained well. Guys just don't want poodles though, probably because the gay haircut. Remember, they used to be hunting dogs, and just keep their hair cut short and not-gay. They also live forever.
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Jul 4, 2008 02:05
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^I can't speak to the allergies but I can say poodles are among the smartest dogs I have come in contact with.
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Jul 4, 2008 03:46
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They really are. Aw, poor little April, my departed apricot poodle. Such a nice little dog. I remember one time I was putting away my drawing supplies and she was watching me. For some reason, I said out loud, "April, I can't find my triangle!" You know, it's like a straight edge for squaring lines and what. Anyway, I searched around some more. She dug into the cushions of the sofa, found the triangle and brought it to me. It was spooky. But much appreciated.
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Jul 4, 2008 05:46
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I actually already suggested a poodle to him and he adamantly refused, was pretty funny.
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Jul 4, 2008 09:18
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My cat hasn't pooped again yet since the diahorrea a couple of nights ago, how long should I wait roughly before I start to let it worry me? She's eating and drinking and behaving normally as far as I can tell. I'd have expected a stool sample for analysis by now given how regular she's been up till now and the decent amount of dry food she's eaten over the past 24 hours.
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Jul 4, 2008 12:13
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Crazedscot posted:My cat hasn't pooped again yet since the diahorrea a couple of nights ago, how long should I wait roughly before I start to let it worry me? She's eating and drinking and behaving normally as far as I can tell. I'd have expected a stool sample for analysis by now given how regular she's been up till now and the decent amount of dry food she's eaten over the past 24 hours. So she hasn't pooped in 2 days? I say get thee to a vet. Animals are good at hiding that they're in pain, and there could be an intestinal blockage or something else weird going on in there.
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Jul 4, 2008 15:16
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Any suggestions for cats that tear the poo poo out of my blinds? We don't like keeping them up because of nosy neighbors and privacy in the bedroom, but the cats love to sit in the windows, and will crawl through, tear apart, and generally gently caress up the blinds. It's getting really annoying, having blinds with huge gaping slots in them...so we're looking into replacing them with perhaps another type that is more cat friendly. Any suggestions, or should we just move to curtains?
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Jul 4, 2008 17:56
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Yarrbossa posted:
She lays in the office window while I'm on the computer and I leave the curtains shut cause you can look right in. any ways this is my third set of drapes in 3 years. She gets between the glass and curtain and then rolls around and like plays with the curtain. She also claws furniture. *however* I don't really care enough about my furniture or drapes to soft paws her or squirt her. TL;DR they may tear up curtains also, but you could always put soft paws on them to prevent that. Do you want to keep them out of the window sill? Get a rubber chair mat and cut it into strips and put it pokey side up in the sill. you can also use automated canned air http://www.amazon.com/Premier-SSSCAT-Automated-Cat-Deterrent-Kit/dp/B0002XI7CI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1215191475&sr=1-1 ChairmanMeow fucked around with this message at 18:13 on Jul 4, 2008 |
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Jul 4, 2008 18:09
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ChairmanMeow posted:as I was reading your post I was reaching up and detaching my tuxedo from the curtains...again... Nah, the cats absolutely love to look outside and I'd hate to take that away from them. I'd rather find a solution that works for them, and doesn't make us buy new blinds every time we turn around. I was thinking about getting those blinds that roll up at the top and you just pull down...so they would have to go around the side of it to get there. My only fear is that they will claw straight through through them >.< As far as soft paws goes...they aren't clawing through the blinds...rather than just crawling through them and inevitably breaking them in doing so. I also have had a few friends who had soft paws and had to constantly keep reattaching them, and since clawing isn't the issue here I don't think it would help much. I thought there might be some blinds made specifically to prevent cats from tearing the poo poo out of them.
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Jul 4, 2008 18:15
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Yarrbossa posted:Nah, the cats absolutely love to look outside and I'd hate to take that away from them. I'd rather find a solution that works for them, and doesn't make us buy new blinds every time we turn around. It's probably expensive, but they make miniblinds that go *inside* of dual pane windows. If that isn't cat proof, I don't know what it.
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Jul 4, 2008 19:37
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Yarrbossa posted:
 you can also try faux wood, 2 inch wide ones, and Roman shades, as well as cloth verticals. ChairmanMeow fucked around with this message at 21:18 on Jul 4, 2008 |
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Jul 4, 2008 21:14
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Yarrbossa posted:I was thinking about getting those blinds that roll up at the top and you just pull down...so they would have to go around the side of it to get there. My only fear is that they will claw straight through through them >.<
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Jul 5, 2008 02:56
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jidohanbaiki posted:We switched to rolling shades in our house because our retarded cats can't handle blinds either. The shades are made out of wood strips that are woven together. They get into the window by sneaking through the side. We've had them for about a year and they are still attractive and in good shape. I think Ikea has something similar for cheap and so does Pier 1/Cost Plus. I'm pretty sure this is going to be the route we take, replacing the blinds as they get torn apart on us since we don't give a poo poo about interior decor. Thanks for the suggestions goons!
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Jul 5, 2008 04:42
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I just adopted Nugget, an ex-feral cat who was found in a recycling bin. He's a very sweet boy, but he's quite shy. What can I do to help him be interested in coming out from under the couch?
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Jul 6, 2008 14:39
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mmmjstone posted:I just adopted Nugget, an ex-feral cat who was found in a recycling bin. He's a very sweet boy, but he's quite shy. What can I do to help him be interested in coming out from under the couch? my cat (i'm ashamed to admit) almost went back cause I thought I couldn't do it. not only did she stay under the bed, she hissed if I came near her, or if I walked past her to go to my bathroom. I even had to bring food to her under there cause she wouldn't come out to eat. It took months. And even now years later she isn't like my ghost who is always right in my lap but she is my special girl and when she comes to me for scritches it's the greatest thing ever. I love that cat so much now I can't even imagine what I could have been thinking. I would let nugget stay under there and make that his safe place, don't overwhelm him, my cat started by sniffing me while I was asleep. you can also try the feliway diffuser it's wicked expensive but a little cheaper if you get it on ebay.
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Jul 6, 2008 18:20
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Yarrbossa posted:I'm pretty sure this is going to be the route we take, replacing the blinds as they get torn apart on us since we don't give a poo poo about interior decor. If privacy is an issue, you can always get the stick-on "frosting" plastic sheeting for the windows. That way you still get full light from outside, but it is not totally transparent.
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Jul 6, 2008 18:38
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ChairmanMeow posted:give it assloads of time I put down the same food that Shader eats with him and he seems uninterested. I'm worried that he's not going to eat at all.
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Jul 6, 2008 19:39
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What's the best way to stop cats from begging? Every time I open a can of tuna I suddenly have all of the cats swarming at my feet and crying like they haven't been fed in weeks. Spritzing them with water irritates them but not enough for them to give it up, same with shaking cans of beans and adding vinegar to the water. I have no idea where they picked this up, I never ever let them eat people food of any sort due to Professor's tender tummy. I just want to eat a tuna sandwich in peace
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Jul 6, 2008 20:17
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I had to give up on that count; I tried discouraging them, but the sound of a tuna can opening just makes them go crazy. The only other thing with a vaguely similar reaction is when they hear me opening the drawer where their toys and catnip are kept.
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Jul 6, 2008 21:55
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mmmjstone posted:I put down the same food that Shader eats with him and he seems uninterested. I'm worried that he's not going to eat at all. find out what he ate at the shelter and try that to get him to eat what he is comfortable with,(although keep trying with Shaders food until) my girl wouldn't eat if I was watching and still even now is most skittish when she eats (thankfully in the kitchen) In the mean time I would try to get him to eat anything at all,cats can't go long with out eating. Is your couch raised where you can slip a dish under to him before you head off to bed for the night? I wouldn't try to make him come to you for the food or anything right now, I would just focus on letting him eat in peace. If it won't fit under I would just put the bowl as close to his spot as possible and clear out. It gets better I promise, and all this advice is just from my experience with my cat so if anyone with better advice or a different take wants to jump in please do!
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Jul 7, 2008 06:07
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I've been vaguely thinking about getting a dog for quite awhile, but the main thing that's stopping me is thinking about house-training him. Meaning, I don't know how to get started or how long it would take, but especially worrisome is the period before he's house-trained when he's going to the bathroom all over my apartment would aggravate me a lot. Actually, just thinking about pee on my carpet makes me shudder. Having a dog would be a lot of fun, but would getting a dog be right for me? Can somebody tell me a bit about their training experiences? Something else I'm concerned about is that I fly across the country a few times a year and I would have to bring the dog along with me for a period of time. Is it a pain to bring pets on airplanes?
SnowWolf fucked around with this message at 07:05 on Jul 7, 2008 |
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Jul 7, 2008 07:00
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SnowWolf posted:I've been vaguely thinking about getting a dog for quite awhile, but the main thing that's stopping me is thinking about house-training him. Meaning, I don't know how to get started or how long it would take, plus the period before he's house-trained when he's going to the bathroom all over my apartment would aggravate me a lot. Actually, just thinking about pee on my carpet makes me shudder. Having a dog would be a lot of fun, but would getting a dog be right for me? Can somebody tell me a bit about their training experiences? If you get a dog from a rescue where it's been fostered, they will know which are house trained already...you might have to go through some remedial steps just to remind him that your place is a no-pee zone too, but it should be easy. I guess it depends on just how much the idea of pee on your carpet bothers you. What if the dog eats something it shouldn't? You could end up with vomit or diarrhea on your carpet no matter how well trained the dog is. And if you decided on a puppy, just remember that they are basically poorly disguised clones of the cartoon Tasmanian Devil and will destroy and/or defile anything in their path, if allowed.
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Jul 7, 2008 07:11
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I have a few questions. I have two cats, my black male kitten Nazgul, born on Good Friday this year, and an 8 year old male Sebastian. Ive had Naz since he was born (my cat's kitten), and Sebastian is my friends cat, who I took in because she had to get rid of him. Sebastian is pretty awesome, for a fat rear end (18lbs). I usually don't have any issues from him, as he is very well behaved, but I have an issue with his dander. He is short haired, and produces an obscene amount of shed hair and dander. Which I am allergic to. Is there something I can do to reduce the dander? I brush him every other day, and that has helped a little. I had a friend who's dog had some dander issues, and he would use a little vitamin E (from liquid capsules) in his food, which helped make his skin less dry. Would something like this hurt my cat? If not, about how much would I want to use? As for Naz, his name is fitting: He's a terror. He uses the litter box with no problem, but even when it's clean, he will pee on the front door mat and the bathroom mat. Not on any of the houses carpet, just loose mats. How can I stop this? Naz also likes to take a single piece of food from the bowl, and take it to the living room. He then bites it, and spits the pieces out on the floor, and scatters them around. He will do this until I put him in "The Boo Box" or he runs out of usable food. I like my house to be clean, but I hate vacuuming every day. For reference, the Boo Box is a extra large cat carrier. Its the most effective form of kitty punishment. He can't stand to be ignored.
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Jul 7, 2008 07:24
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ChairmanMeow posted:It gets better I promise, and all this advice is just from my experience with my cat so if anyone with better advice or a different take wants to jump in please do! I put down SD (ick) and he ate that. I'm going to get some wet food on the way home. I played video games in the room last night and he came out. Shader is pissed. Really really really really pissed. I'm hoping she calms down soon.
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Jul 7, 2008 15:52
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mmmjstone posted:I put down SD (ick) and he ate that. I'm going to get some wet food on the way home. My cat Fred is an ex-feral, and he stayed under the couch for probably eight months. The first five, he would not come out while I was in the room - only when I was asleep or out of the apartment. Then he'd come out to eat and pee and all. After a while he started coming out a little while I was on the couch, but if I acknowledged him in any way or tried to pet him, or made any sudden or sharp movements, it was back under the couch. He's going to need a lot of time, it's just the nature of the poor things. He'll come around eventually, though he may never be as friendly as a non-feral cat.
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Jul 7, 2008 16:21
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DrakoDWyvrex posted:I have a few questions. I have two cats, my black male kitten Nazgul, born on Good Friday this year, and an 8 year old male Sebastian. Ive had Naz since he was born (my cat's kitten), and Sebastian is my friends cat, who I took in because she had to get rid of him. Sebastian is pretty awesome, for a fat rear end (18lbs). I usually don't have any issues from him, as he is very well behaved, but I have an issue with his dander. What kind of food are you feeding him? I have two domestic short-hairs and a long-haired Norwegian Forest, and the short-hairs are the ones who shedded goddamn everywhere. Once I switched all three to ultra premium food (Innova adult dry, in the red bag), I was absolutely astonished at the decrease in shedding. There's still a little bit of furrage, but nothing like how it used to be. They don't leave black fur or orange fur residue everywhere they go anymore.
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Jul 7, 2008 17:36
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This is probably a stupid question, which is why I'm posting it here and not in a new thread, but can an 8-month old kitten of reasonable size still drown in a toilet bowl? The reason I ask is because I've heard horror stories of people who have had pets drown and die from trying to drink the toilet bowl water when the seat is up. Hence, since we have had our kitten Tom Sawyer, I have been nagging my Girlfriend nonstop to leave the seat down to avoid death by drowning. His litterbox is in the bathroom, and since our apartment is relatively small, we can't move it anywhere else. He absolutely loves to drink from the toilet bowl if he can, and if someone happens to leave the seat up, he'll make a beeline for it. He also seems to like going in there to have a stinky poop when someone else is on the toilet, the jerk  . But, now that Tom is around 8 months in age and roughly 9lbs in weight, my GF claims we no longer need to be so concerned about the seat being up, and freely leaves it up whenever she pleases. (Butch women can be a lot like straight men, I guess.) My concern is that he still loves to drink from the bowl, and he could potentially still fall in head-first, be unable to scrabble out of the bowl because of the slick sides, and drown. Is this a legitimate concern? Should I thoroughly chastise my lady and once again nag her into leaving the seat down? Thanks for any advice, and here's a picture of the bowl-swiggin' culprit (with his 5lb doggie brother for size reference):  (sorry for the blurs, i'm not a very good photographer)
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Jul 7, 2008 19:40
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Captain Foxy posted:But, now that Tom is around 8 months in age and roughly 9lbs in weight, my GF claims we no longer need to be so concerned about the seat being up, and freely leaves it up whenever she pleases. (Butch women can be a lot like straight men, I guess.) My concern is that he still loves to drink from the bowl, and he could potentially still fall in head-first, be unable to scrabble out of the bowl because of the slick sides, and drown. We let ours drink from the toilet all the time when I was a kid, and never had any problems with them falling in, even when they were little kittens. I've since been told that it's really dangerous to let cats drink out of the toilet, because of the possible (likely) presence of human waste and/or cleaning chemicals in the water.
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Jul 7, 2008 19:58
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RazorBunny posted:We let ours drink from the toilet all the time when I was a kid, and never had any problems with them falling in, even when they were little kittens. Yeah, I'm not so keen on him doing it for pretty much that reason. He kisses my face all the time...  I suppose I'm just going to have to put a clamp on the thing. Unless anyone knows anything that will convince him that his expensive water fountain is the preferred source of liquid and not the poo poo bowl?
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Jul 7, 2008 20:02
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Captain Foxy posted:Yeah, I'm not so keen on him doing it for pretty much that reason. He kisses my face all the time... We are taking care of my cousin's cat for the summer and she loves the toilet bowl too. My boyfriend and I have gotten into the habit of trying to keep the lid on it or the door closed on our two bathrooms but sometimes we forget. I rarely see her drink out of her water dish. I've even put out a separate bowl for water and we clean it regularly but she still would prefer the toilet. I don't understand this behavior.
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Jul 7, 2008 21:55
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I have a question that I thought would be easy to answer on my own but am now having trouble with. This forum has been a great resource so far and because of it I now know that a quality breeder is the way to go for a purebred and healthy puppy. Adoption has its merits of course but there's always some unpredictability. Anyways, my question pertains to AKC registered breeders and their registration requirements. My current assumption is that to be listed on the AKC website(or a subsite for a particular breed's club), a breeder must meet certain requirements and thus by extension be worth purchasing from. However while searching the site I came across this: quote:There is a widely held belief that "AKC" or "AKC papers" guarantee the quality of a dog. This is not the case. AKC is a registry body. A registration certificate identifies the dog as the offspring of a known sire and dam, born on a known date. It in no way indicates the quality or state of health of the dog. This is clear enough and breed-specific clubs say something similar, but they also say that to be listed on the referral service a breeder must be in "good standing". That phrase leads me to believe that the disclaimers are just there as legal cover, and that generally speaking an AKC-listed breeder is probably going to be a safe bet. Is this the case or are some of these breeders not as good as they may appear to be? Edit: Just to clarify I'm referring strictly to breeders listed on official AKC sites under their referral sections. Jive One fucked around with this message at 22:33 on Jul 7, 2008 |
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Jul 7, 2008 22:27
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Jive One posted:My current assumption is that to be listed on the AKC website(or a subsite for a particular breed's club), a breeder must meet certain requirements and thus by extension be worth purchasing from. However while searching the site I came across this: The thing that PI usually recommends is that the breeders be on the national breed club's breeder referral list. That means that those particular breeders have agreed to their club's breeders' code of ethics. This code of ethics is meant to exclude people breeding strictly for profit, or for all the 1000 other reasons that most people in PI find objectionable. On the other hand, the AKC itself has no problem registering puppymill puppies, BYB litters, and like you already mentioned, the AKC registration doesn't mean anything in itself. The AKC has a classifieds section that doesn't require anything except that the puppies be in an AKC litter. An AKC listed breeder could be Joe Schmo from next door breeding his puppymill Golden Retriever to Bob Tardo's Golden down the street. There's should be no assumption that the AKC listed breeders are breeding for quality puppies.
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Jul 7, 2008 23:32
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Captain Foxy posted:Yeah, I'm not so keen on him doing it for pretty much that reason. He kisses my face all the time... I don't know about convincing the kitty, but my friends vet said her cat passed because of complications brought on because of the drop in tablets they used to treat their toilet water. I don't use those but I do use strong stuff to clean the toilet and it scared the beejebus out of me. so I always flush like mad after a cleaning. and keep the lid shut.
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Jul 8, 2008 02:38
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After 6+ years of trying everything known to man, my cockatiel finally took a bath on his own. How can I encourage him to continue to do it? I am tired of shampooing him myself and it's not worth the painful struggle.  I recently bought him a giant cage and was wondering if I should try to either (a) place a pie pan or something similar on the bottom of the cage or (b) get him a "bird bath" which he has neglected before (except when he had to poop..... then they were the greatest places ever). Any help would be fantastic.
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Jul 9, 2008 03:54
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Pointy_Stick posted:After 6+ years of trying everything known to man, my cockatiel finally took a bath on his own. How can I encourage him to continue to do it? I am tired of shampooing him myself and it's not worth the painful struggle. I always heard that people take their cockatiels into the shower with them.
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Jul 9, 2008 04:46
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TigerMoJo posted:I always heard that people take their cockatiels into the shower with them. To me that sounds like self mutilation. Cockatoos..... I have heard of people taking those in to the shower and they sit on shower bars but my little bitey friend... sounds like pain... 
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Jul 9, 2008 04:57
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RazorBunny posted:I'm sure others will chime in here. I have absolutely zero experience with declawing or declawed cats, and I have only anecdotal knowledge of the negatives of the procedure, so I won't opine to heavily on it. None of our cats have ever needed to be declawed, not even the ones who were incredibly scratch-happy. I got my kittens at about 2-3 months old, and yes, they were destructive bastards. My parents' adult cats are much, much worse, partly because my parents actually have nice furniture. I don't know why my mom still thinks it's a good idea to buy expensive rugs when the cats destroy them within a day of purchase. My first cat was declawed and he was still a total sweetheart. It's been years since he died but I still have dreams about him. He was also an outdoor cat and never seemed to get into any trouble, but he was also just pretty big so I think his clawless swats were scary enough to keep the neighbor cats and other animals at bay. He lived to be over 20. I've never known any other declawed cats so I've never believed that declawing endangers the cat or causes drastic mood problems. I still won't declaw now because I understand it is painful for the animal and that's enough reason not do do the procedure for me.
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Jul 9, 2008 05:40
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Pointy_Stick posted:To me that sounds like self mutilation. Cockatoos..... I have heard of people taking those in to the shower and they sit on shower bars but my little bitey friend... sounds like pain... I take my IRN into the shower with me and he loves it. He also loves water, though. He'll try to climb down my arm into the sink when I'm doing dishes.
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Jul 9, 2008 13:36
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Pointy_Stick posted:To me that sounds like self mutilation. Cockatoos..... I have heard of people taking those in to the shower and they sit on shower bars but my little bitey friend... sounds like pain... Ugh that's why I hate cockatiels. Every one I've met is a biting little bastard.
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Jul 9, 2008 17:05
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Pointy_Stick posted:To me that sounds like self mutilation. Cockatoos..... I have heard of people taking those in to the shower and they sit on shower bars but my little bitey friend... sounds like pain... I met a gentleman at my exotics vet who had two birds, a cockatoo and a blue-fronted Amazon. The Amazon was unhandleable, though apparently still quite social. Instead of trying to bathe him or otherwise risk having the poo poo torn out of him, the owner put the bird in a smaller, otherwise empty cage and hung it in the shower. The Amazon would happily frolic in the water for a while. I could see taking a bird into the shower with you being dangerous if you were naked, but with a swimsuit on or something there wouldn't be as much danger to the soft bits.
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Jul 9, 2008 18:06
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