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porkchoppie posted:I have a 5.5 month old kitten that I need to have spayed. I'm thinking of having it done at the Humane Society vet clinic because it's cheaper than what my vet would charge. Your vet won't be offended by this, I'm sure they understand that sometimes they're just a little too pricy. Lots of people have things like vaccines and neuter/spays done at lower cost clinics to reduce the costs of pet ownership. Your vet will ultimately be concerned with keeping you as a customer in the long run and that your pet is healthy.
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Aug 1, 2008 01:13
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Dog potty break schedules - It has been awhile since I've had a dog without a yard so I'm curious to know what other people's schedules are like with their dogs and their potty breaks. I've got a chihuahua that mostly uses a litter box so I can't really compare there. Right now he is 8 months old. He goes out to puddle first thing, then eats and goes out 30 or so later for a short walk and #2. At lunch, puddle break. Once I'm home from work, puddle, eat, then walk and #2 after a little while. From then on, we go out twice more for puddle breaks. While this has worked out quite well (No accidents in over a month, I'm getting confident that he's almost completely housebroken) I feel that we're probably going out a few more times than necessary. Does he need to have his meal before he'll feel like he needs to #2? Or can I combine the near-meal trips into one walk/trip before each meal? I've been too afraid to mess up potty training by trying to deviate from the routine lately. Whats a typical adult dog (that eats twice a day) schedule like?
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Aug 1, 2008 01:18
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Kela posted:Yes, theres even a possibility that the Humane Society could end up doing a better job than your own vet. Why? Because the Humane Society does TONS of these jobs all the time, likely more than your vet does. The humane society has a vet that does this as well, it isn't like some unlicensed person would be operating on the animal. Thanks for the info! I just made the appointment. Poor, unsuspecting Aletheia goes in a week from Saturday.
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Aug 1, 2008 01:23
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Kela posted:He goes out to puddle first thing, then eats and goes out 30 or so later for a short walk and #2. Did you seriously just say that? Dogs poo poo and piss. Or they urinate and defecate. If you're talking to your mom, they poop and pee. This is SOMETHING AWFUL. Ok, ok, seriously, my dog takes a dump about twice a day, in midmorning and in midafternoon. She eats in the morning, before her morning poop, and then when we go to the park before dinner she squeezes out another loaf. Then home for dinner and a nap before she goes out again to shower the unsuspecting monkey grass with golden rain. The only way to tell your dog's schedule is to watch him, very closely, for signs that he may want to go out, and accept that it's your mistake if you're wrong. Sometimes I go to bed without waking my dog up for her last walk. When I do that, I always step in cold carpet pee. It's not her fault, it's mine.
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Aug 1, 2008 02:43
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VikingKitten posted:Did you seriously just say that? I think I love you.
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Aug 1, 2008 03:58
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How about he sprinkles rainbows? =P I don't care what forum it is, there are ways that I prefer saying things~ I guess I should work on trying to get him to let me know when he needs to go. Maybe I'll try that "go get your leash" trick although he'll probably just run around grabbing it all the time when he isn't getting attention. I tried tying a bell to the door when he was younger...and the punk just never stopped ringing it > <
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Aug 1, 2008 03:58
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Look, I snarked about the pee thing. This is serious advice. It's not him, it's you. WATCH YOUR DOG. Learn his body language. He does *something*, some tiny thing, that indicates that he needs to pee. You've got some amount of time - 5 seconds, 30 seconds, two minutes - to react and let him know that you're getting ready to take him out. When I get home from the park with Cersei, she flops out on the bed and snores for hours. She'll wake up, some time between 8 and midnight. She'll look at me. (That's cue number one.) Then she stretches a little. (Number two.) Then she flops out so that her front legs are on the ground while her torso is on the bed. (Final warning.) If I haven't gotten my lazy rear end off the computer and grabbed my keys by then, she very quietly walks out of my line of sight and pees on the floor. Then she goes back to sleep. It's not her. It's me. I FINALLY learned when she's "telling" me she needs to pee, and I react. As long as I get up when she "tells" me, she has no accidents.
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Aug 1, 2008 04:23
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Kela posted:How about he sprinkles rainbows? =P I don't care what forum it is, there are ways that I prefer saying things~ Maybe you'd prefer to use actual punctuation sometimes~
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Aug 1, 2008 04:23
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Nope~ I'll be sure never to replace a period with a smilie again so that you won't be confused. FWIW, the tilde is a mark of punctuation. Kela fucked around with this message at 04:45 on Aug 1, 2008 |
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Aug 1, 2008 04:29
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^^^ -=kwantam do you have a cousin here or something? My dog has what looks like a little wart on the top of her front paw. She's had it for a while, as we brought it up at her last annual checkup but the vet didn't seem worried so we just ignored it. This past February we took her in for a teeth cleaning, and they noticed a "warty tumor" in her ear, and removed that. I "found" the foot wart the other day again (it's kinda hidden under hair) and wondered: are these two warty things related? Should I be worried? She has her next annual in 2 weeks, so I can ask then, but just for my own curiosity does PI know?  Should mention she doesn't seem bothered by it if we touch it. She does lick her feet sometimes, but she also licks the floor and wall so 
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Aug 1, 2008 05:42
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drat Bananas posted:^^^ -=kwantam do you have a cousin here or something? You can't know unless it's aspirated, lumps and bumps can be all sorts of things.
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Aug 1, 2008 06:18
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VikingKitten posted:
Cambria's signal is to walk up her couch-stairs & stare at me or nose my arm. She doesn't make it onto the couch, just stands there on her stairs until I take her out.
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Aug 1, 2008 12:51
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My cat hates me.  Well, she doesn't hate me, but she certainly doesn't care about my side of the world. I know this is how cats are and I'm fine with it were it not for the fact she loves the hell out of my boyfriend. She'll curl up with him and watch tv, snuggle with him under the covers in bed, follow him around the house, purr like crazy if he's within 10 feet of her. Me on the other hand, the only time she graces my lap with her presence is if she needs to step over me to get to him on the couch or his side of the bed. She'll 'tolerate' me holding her or trying to cuddle. Meaning she'll sit there all stiff just waiting to jump down. I feed her, I buy her toys, I play with her, I predominately am the one that changes her litter box, I try to snuggle with her but no, I might as well be invisible. Hell, I'm even the one who rescued her from a horrible situation and brought her home. She wont even purr for me.  I've tried ignoring her a little bit to see if she'd come back to me wondering where my attention went but that didn't work. My boyfriend and I changed tasks where he spent a while being the only one to feed her, change her box, basically taking on my roles to see if that had a psychological impact but that didn't either. I don't think I'd be having as much of a problem with it were it not for the fact I'm always the one animals attach themselves too. The dog and cat I grew up with always slept in my bed and smothered me with affection. I'm used to cats being independent but I've never been so blatantly ignored while someone else gets all the kitty lovins. Is there anyway to changer her attitude toward me? Edit: The only thing I can think that might color her view is the dog is my buddy. She likes and gets along with the dog but she's definitely 'my dog'. However the dog isn't always on me or by me for her to be put off by having her space invaded if she lays with me. When we first got her I made sure to give them both equal attention so neither of them felt slighted. KilGrey fucked around with this message at 01:03 on Aug 2, 2008 |
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Aug 2, 2008 01:01
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Something like that happened to me with an ex once. It didn't matter who fed, petted, etc the cat, the cat simply liked the person who had a lap available the longest in the house. I worked at an office and the ex worked from home...so she could lay in his lap all day long. When we got a new cat, the situation quickly mirrored that of the old cat. The new cat became attached to the work-at-home guy after awhile and he was the favorite all the time. Could it be something like that?
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Aug 2, 2008 01:42
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Kela posted:Something like that happened to me with an ex once. It didn't matter who fed, petted, etc the cat, the cat simply liked the person who had a lap available the longest in the house. I worked at an office and the ex worked from home...so she could lay in his lap all day long. When we got a new cat, the situation quickly mirrored that of the old cat. The new cat became attached to the work-at-home guy after awhile and he was the favorite all the time. Hm, there might be something to that. I worked at a trucking company in the HR department and I was coming in from a break in the yard were are trucks park/get services and she can tumbling out of the bushes covered in grease. Unfortunately truckers have a tendency to not fully understand what it will be like to keep an animal on their trucks and will just pitch them out at the next stop they have. My boyfriend is unemployed so he was home all the time with her. I would come home on lunch breaks and she'd snuggle and nap with me on the couch when she was still a baby. She's a little over a year now and her desire to cuddle with me stopped around 6 or 7 months I think. So I was gone for most of the day and he was home. I was laid off back in November and have been on unemployment with plans to go back to school so I've been home a since then. So she'd have only been home alone during the day with him for 4 months of her kittenhood. Maybe that was enough to imprint her onto him. But I'd like to think she'd give me more than a passing glance now.
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Aug 2, 2008 02:09
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I have two three month old kitties, and one loves her litterbox a little bit too much. She uses it for it's intended purpose, but she also enjoys playing in it. I'm hoping she just grows out of it, but is there any way I can discourage her from playing in her litterbox without discouraging her from using it?
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Aug 2, 2008 02:17
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Do you guys have a place where you get your pet supplies (toys and such) for cheaper? The local Petco is burning a hole in my pocket.
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Aug 2, 2008 02:17
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Prune Juice posted:Do you guys have a place where you get your pet supplies (toys and such) for cheaper? The local Petco is burning a hole in my pocket. I do some grooming too, so I like to order from petedge.com. They have a fee if you don't meet a minimum order amount, so I try to do all my ordering in big quantities at once. They've always got lots of stuff on sale so you can get tons of cheap dog toys on top of whatever else you're ordering. Walmart usually has a 88 cent toy bin if your dogs get tired of(or destroy) toys quickly. I don't buy 8 dollar stuffed animals that I know my dogs will destroy immediately. Depending on the pet, you can make some toys. A sock with a tennisball in it makes a great toy that you can throw and costs probably 35 cents if you buy the ball and use an old sock.
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Aug 2, 2008 02:38
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Kela posted:A sock with a tennisball in it makes a great toy that you can throw and costs probably 35 cents if you buy the ball and use an old sock. We did that as a kid. But the dog had a hard time telling the difference between the old play sock, and my dad's socks from the laundry.
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Aug 2, 2008 02:54
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Kela posted:Something like that happened to me with an ex once. It didn't matter who fed, petted, etc the cat, the cat simply liked the person who had a lap available the longest in the house. Charlie is so strongly bonded to Steve that even though I feed him, brush him, give him his treats, and let him sleep on me at night, if Steve snaps his fingers and pats his lap Charlie will all but teleport there. It's fine, since he's Steve's cat and I would hate to steal him. Cats are funny sometimes about who they attach themselves to. My old cat who had lived with my mother for years and almost never saw me still recognized me and followed me around when I came home to visit. I had a friend whose cat fell so in love with his girlfriend that when she moved away for school, the cat got depressed and stopped eating. He wound up giving her the cat, who is apparently now doing quite well. KilGrey, you can always try bribery, I guess.
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Aug 2, 2008 02:59
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Space Harrier posted:I have two three month old kitties, and one loves her litterbox a little bit too much. She uses it for it's intended purpose, but she also enjoys playing in it. When you notice she is playing in the box, try to distract her with a toy. I think just playing with her outside the box and rewarding her for that behavior should work.
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Aug 2, 2008 03:27
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KilGrey posted:My cat hates me. One of my two cats is like that with my boyfriend. I am the only person in Ridley's world as far as he is concerned. He sits on me on the couch and rolls around purring and drooling when I scratch his belly and grooms me. I think it's just a basic personality trait, honestly, that some cats are one-person cats, and Ridley happens to be one of them. We also have Nyx, who loves anyone and everyone, so he's placated by that, but Ridley cringes back when my boyfriend tries to pet him and does the squirmy thing when he picks him up. He also acts like this towards outside people, though. Is your cat indifferent towards strangers as well? If so, it just might be her personality and that's something you'll need to accept. I've chalked it up with Ridley to my having handled him very often from the day he was born, and nobody else really doing so as much, for what it's worth. And as for the situation of who's home more - my boyfriend does his graduate school research from home and I have a mostly full time job, so he's home all the time and I'm not so that's not a factor for us.
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Aug 2, 2008 04:48
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Anybody else have trouble with dogs hurting themselves at the dog park? We've got a big yellow dog (70 lbs) of undetermined breed who loves the dog park--he's fast as hell, loves to be chased. He wipes out from time to time--usually when a little aussie or another herding dog tries to cut him off and he tries to vault them. The long and short of it is that he has a great time out there, but more than once we've found that he ends up with swollen red pads, small scratches on his belly, or most recently, an minor abrasion under his eye. How worried should we be about this? Is this the sort of thing that warrants taking him to the park a little less? Should we just let him take his knocks (and take the occasional vet checkup) and figure he'll calm down with age, as he's only about a year and a half right now?
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Aug 2, 2008 05:32
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I have two related issues. 1. My dog hates his leash! My 15-week-old Maltese refuses to move when I put his leash on his collar. He instantly flattens himself on the ground, or even backs away from me a little bit. Everything I've read about leash training talks about a dog being too eager to walk on his leash and pulling ahead, not the opposite! Obviously I won't drag the poor boy around because he's a hair under four pounds and I'm afraid of hurting his neck. I've taken him for short walks around the neighborhood leashless before and he trots along happily behind me. Are there any methods to get him to stop resisting his leash so that I can walk him without worrying about his safety? 2. Some people I've asked have suggested luring him with treats, but he's indifferent to dog biscuits, apathetic toward cheese, and completely ignores bits of chicken. Is he too young to fully appreciate treats or something? For example, he'll play with his Kong toy all day if it's empty, but the moment I put something in it like peanut butter or kibble, he completely ignores it. Do dogs grow into enjoying treats or will I have to find a completely different training method for my little guy? Edit: The advice I have read about a dog who resists the leash and just plants himself on the ground has all told me to say, "Walk," start walking briskly, and keep walking -- even if it means dragging him. I have a feeling this advice is for bigger, stronger dogs and not toy breeds. The one time I did try this method (regretfully), he yiped with pain, and I felt horrible. Surely there's something better? Noumena fucked around with this message at 15:54 on Aug 2, 2008 |
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Aug 2, 2008 14:18
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no shoes posted:Anybody else have trouble with dogs hurting themselves at the dog park? We've got a big yellow dog (70 lbs) of undetermined breed who loves the dog park--he's fast as hell, loves to be chased. He wipes out from time to time--usually when a little aussie or another herding dog tries to cut him off and he tries to vault them. Heh. I've got a young Lab who tears up her feet pretty bad at the dog park. For me, it's not worth the hassle of trying to keep her at home - she's an enormous ball of energy if we skip more than one day in a row at the park. She has run her nails down to where there's just the tiniest bit of free edge left, and I keep worrying that she's going to quick herself  Obviously your dog is going to be too excited while he's out there to show pain, so you just need to watch him wandering around the house before you go and use your best judgment. If he's favoring a paw while he's calm and at home, maybe he should stay home for a day or two. But if he doesn't look like anything is bothering him (and his cuts aren't infected), I'd say take him. A tired dog is a happy dog.
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Aug 2, 2008 15:44
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Would someone pretty please find the thread made a while ago on best cat litters for me? I am supposed to be able to do a "search" under my archives account but for some reason it is not working for me. My new kitty's litter smells worse than its poop, and it's an Arm and Hammer brand! Please and thank you.
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Aug 3, 2008 01:38
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Prune Juice posted:Would someone pretty please find the thread made a while ago on best cat litters for me? I am supposed to be able to do a "search" under my archives account but for some reason it is not working for me. My new kitty's litter smells worse than its poop, and it's an Arm and Hammer brand! Please and thank you. I mentioned this in the nutrition thread, but are you using the scented kind? Arm & Hammer also makes unscented, which I like a lot better.
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Aug 3, 2008 01:43
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maplecheese posted:I mentioned this in the nutrition thread, but are you using the scented kind? Arm & Hammer also makes unscented, which I like a lot better. Yes, yes, unfortunately, it turns out I am. I saw Arm and Hammer, thought baking soda, and just grabbed it, I never thought the scent of it would be so strong. Does the poop smell with the unscented one? And I don't mean does it smell when I'm right next to the litter box, but would it smell in the general area of the bathroom? Thank you so much, btw! It's my first 'real' pet and I am panicky about everything.
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Aug 3, 2008 01:51
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Prune Juice posted:Yes, yes, unfortunately, it turns out I am. I saw Arm and Hammer, thought baking soda, and just grabbed it, I never thought the scent of it would be so strong. Does the poop smell with the unscented one? And I don't mean does it smell when I'm right next to the litter box, but would it smell in the general area of the bathroom? Thank you so much, btw! It's my first 'real' pet and I am panicky about everything. The Arm & Hammer unscented works really, really well for us... but then, our cat is a healthy adult on a grain-free diet. Being a kitten, having worms, and adjusting to a new food can make a cat's poop just stink terribly, and being on a really high quality food can make it a lot better... so our cats probably represent the upper and lower ends of possible stinkage. There are basically two ways that cat litters keep you from smelling poop: by dehydrating it (dry stuff doesn't smell much) and by covering it up (you can't smell poop if all you can smell is OVERPOWERING ARTIFICIAL FLOWERS). If coverup scents bother you, your best bet is an unscented that clumps really, really well. A&H Fragrance Free (it looks like this, btw) is good for that. You can also add extra baking soda if you need more odor control. As for your non-food questions from the other thread... Prune Juice posted:I have potpourri around the house, is he safe around that? Do I put my soap away in the bathroom, would he...eat any? I would suggest making sure the cat can't eat the potpourri, as it CAN be harmful - you could try putting the jar up where he can't get to it or using a lid with holes in it, but cats are good enough at jumping, climbing, and knocking lids off of things that I think the best thing to do would be to use potpourri in bags rather than in jars if you can. (or putting it in a bag IN the jar if you have really pretty jars you don't want to part with) If he tries to eat soap, you'll have to put it away, but I wouldn't say it's super likely.
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Aug 3, 2008 04:30
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This isn't a question but I really wanted to share this book that was read in the preschool I work at called Fancy Nancy and the Posh Puppy. It's about this little girl that wants to be all fancy and she decides she wants a Papillon, because they are fancy dogs. She dogsits one for a couple days and realizes they're not as much fun as she thought and winds up adopting a dog from the shelter. The moral she learned was that shelter dogs can be 'fancy' too because all she did was add a bunch of bows to this big goofy dog. I've never seen a popular book advocating shelter dogs but sorry if this is more widespread than I've seen. From the threads I've seen though, it seems like there are a lot of posters/mothers/siblings/friends who might benefit from this book's simple message that looks are not the only thing when deciding on a dog!
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Aug 4, 2008 01:13
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Can I use Carefresh bedding for a chinchilla? I seem to be getting mixed answers online. It lists the animals it's intended for on the back of the package, and chinchillas aren't on it so I didn't want to risk it before making sure. The local PetValu - which has basically every premium food/supply for cats & dogs but a very limited small pet section - only has Carefresh and Aspen. I'm absolutely willing to go with Aspen if Carefresh is no good, it's just because we already have Carefresh and I really, really want the pine (which he's currently on, courtesy of the people we just got him from) out. Also, what's a good brand of food for a chinchilla? He's 18 months old and apparently quite finicky. He's settled on "Charlie Chinchilla Carrot & Fruit" but I'm not sure how good it is for him. The PetValu only has one kind of chinchilla food, and it was just pellets without any other flakes or... hunks... of things... in it. (This is what he's on now.) Bonus photo of Lord Wilbur Crawford Tillinghast III sleeping in his (crappy, soon to be replaced) wheel:  Click here for the full 1500x1000 image.
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Aug 4, 2008 19:44
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Quail Butter posted:Can I use Carefresh bedding for a chinchilla? Yes, carefresh is fine. I can't imagine why some people would claim it's not, I've never heard of that, and googling didn't show me anything. Can you link me to someone who says it's bad for them? I don't like that food he's currently on. Too much protein and fat, not enough fiber. Personally, I'm a huge fan of Oxbow. You'll probably have to order it online and pay out the rear end for shipping, but the improved quality is well worth it. Don't forget lots of fresh timothy hay too!
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Aug 4, 2008 20:18
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So in regards to my wayward ktiten I posted about last week...finally got my hands on a trap. I'd been keeping him occupied outside of the building with good stinky kitten food so that he'd realize that outside the door = food. Trap is currently outside the office. The goddamn kitten is too little/smart to set off the stupid thing!  I've watched him step over the plate to eat the food. How can I get him to actually step on the plate to catch his cute little rear end?
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Aug 4, 2008 21:09
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alucinor posted:Yes, carefresh is fine. I can't imagine why some people would claim it's not, I've never heard of that, and googling didn't show me anything. Can you link me to someone who says it's bad for them? It's just that the back of the package doesn't list them, and when I looked at this site it only lists "Guinea Pigs, Hamsters, Rats, Rabbits, Birds, Reptiles & Ferrets". Considering it's a chinchilla-related site, I thought it would say whether or not it's appropriate, but it doesn't. I wasn't sure if it would cause problems if he nibbled on it. I thought his food might be an issue. The old owners also had it mixed with dried pineapple and papaya chunks, banana chips, almonds! and walnuts! Seriously, there was more of that junk than his actual food. I'm all for banana chips as an occasional treat, but they were serving them as a daily thing I think. It has since been chucked. I can actually get Oxbow from a place about 30 minutes away, which is cool. We'll go pick that up tomorrow. Thanks for your help!
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Aug 4, 2008 21:50
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Women's Rights? posted:So in regards to my wayward ktiten I posted about last week...finally got my hands on a trap. I'd been keeping him occupied outside of the building with good stinky kitten food so that he'd realize that outside the door = food. Trap is currently outside the office. The goddamn kitten is too little/smart to set off the stupid thing! Make sure it's pushed as far back to the end past the plate as possible. If he can still reach it, use a smaller container. If this doesn't work, maybe try a small cardboard shield in front of the plate blocking off the food so he has to step on it to reach over the shield and get the food (or conversely make it floor-to-ceiling with a hole he has to stick his head through).
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Aug 4, 2008 22:25
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100 Years in Iraq posted:Make sure it's pushed as far back to the end past the plate as possible. If he can still reach it, use a smaller container. If this doesn't work, maybe try a small cardboard shield in front of the plate blocking off the food so he has to step on it to reach over the shield and get the food (or conversely make it floor-to-ceiling with a hole he has to stick his head through). The paper shield over the plate worked! I caught a kitten!
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Aug 6, 2008 21:10
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 I still got game...
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Aug 6, 2008 22:42
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Women's Rights? posted:The paper shield over the plate worked! I caught a kitten! Pictures needed, now 
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Aug 6, 2008 22:44
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Helanna posted:Pictures needed, now I would but...well, and this is embarassing to admit, but when I was transferring him from the trap to the carrier, I had the car door open behind me and he ran out. Tomorrow is another day though!
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Aug 6, 2008 22:47
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Women's Rights? posted:I would but...well, and this is embarassing to admit, but when I was transferring him from the trap to the carrier, I had the car door open behind me and he ran out. Sorry to burst your bubble, but they usually won't go back in a trap once they've been caught. Now instead of associating it with food, they associate it with horrible frightening hairless monsters.
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Aug 6, 2008 23:21
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