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You may think the box is clean enough, but she may disagree. If you aren't already, try scooping in the morning and in the evening, and see if that helps.
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Aug 4, 2010 13:24
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All of a sudden, my dog refuses to relieve himself in our yard. He had no problems doing this a few days ago, and now for whatever reason he flat out refuses to even walk on the grass. We have not made changes of any sort to our yard, and he's taken to pooping in the house. What can I do?
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Aug 4, 2010 13:48
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fishmaster17 posted:All of a sudden, my dog refuses to relieve himself in our yard. He had no problems doing this a few days ago, and now for whatever reason he flat out refuses to even walk on the grass. We have not made changes of any sort to our yard, and he's taken to pooping in the house. What can I do? How old is he? Was he just housebroken "completely" for just a few days or for years before this? How many times has he refused to walk on the grass? Maybe try taking him for a walk around the neighborhood and see if he has a problem with all grass or specifically yours. You said there haven't been any changes to the yard, but now he's pooping in the house. Were there changes in the house?
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Aug 4, 2010 15:32
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Cassiope posted:How old is he? Was he just housebroken "completely" for just a few days or for years before this? There have been no changes in the house lately, either. He's been housebroken completely, and has been ever since we got him. Before this week, he's had exactly one accident inside the house, and that was in a completely different room from where these accidents are occurring. He's 2 1/2 years old. I was outside with him earlier today. He had no problem walking on the grass when i threw a treat on there, so I'll keep doing that so he associates his grass with something positive. I'll do the walk thing later, too. Also I'll have him out on the walk leash and just kinda hang out on his grass for a bit, just so he isn't scared. This sounds gross, but if he poops in the house again, should I throw the poop out on his yard? Would it make him more willing to go on his grass if he smells his own poop there?
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Aug 4, 2010 16:44
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Could there have been a critter in the yard that scared him?
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Aug 4, 2010 17:15
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fishmaster17 posted:This sounds gross, but if he poops in the house again, should I throw the poop out on his yard? Would it make him more willing to go on his grass if he smells his own poop there? Worth a shot! I've heard some dogs like going where there's been poop or pee and some like going where there hasn't been yet so might as well throw his out there and see if he is in the previous category. I tried that with my puppy. Soaked up some of her pee when she had an accident in the house and put the paper towel outside when I was trying to get her to go out there. I didn't see any amazing results, but every dog is different. Considering you have to pick it up when he goes in the house you might as well throw it outside for him. Or try to pick him up and set him on the grass if you catch him going/about to go inside. Also keep in mind most of my advice is newbie or "I heard/read this" advice. Hopefully if I am wrong someone will step in and let me know.
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Aug 4, 2010 17:28
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Fire In The Disco posted:Could there have been a critter in the yard that scared him? There might have been, but I don't know. I know there aren't any furry critters that reside on our property. It's so small I'd have noticed by now. Maybe something could have scared him, though. If so, how do I fix it?
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Aug 4, 2010 19:21
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fishmaster17 posted:There might have been, but I don't know. I know there aren't any furry critters that reside on our property. It's so small I'd have noticed by now. Maybe something could have scared him, though. If so, how do I fix it? Play with him outside and on the grass if you can, shove treats in his face when he is on the grass and especially if he does his business there. You throwing treats in there for him to get sounds like a great way to start.
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Aug 4, 2010 19:23
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Our little bastard cairn terrier rolled around in poo and got covered head to tail in it about an hour ago. :/ I showered him and used a dog shampoo, and I can't see any crap in his fur but he still smells. Should I shower him again (im guessing yes?)?... But can it wait until tomorrow?
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Aug 4, 2010 20:45
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Ola Ugh posted:Our little bastard cairn terrier rolled around in poo and got covered head to tail in it about an hour ago. :/ Can YOU wait 'til tomorrow? You shouldn't bathe a dog too often, but I think being covered in poo poo from head to toe warrants an exception.
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Aug 4, 2010 20:58
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I found some green in my cat's feces; is this usually a result of eating grass? I will end up taking her to the vet because she needs a visit anyway, but I wanted to know if I should be worried before I take her in.
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Aug 5, 2010 00:46
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Cassiope posted:Play with him outside and on the grass if you can, shove treats in his face when he is on the grass and especially if he does his business there. You throwing treats in there for him to get sounds like a great way to start. I threw treats out there at random. His area is probably about 20 feet long by about 5 feet wide (the grassy area, anyway). Then later it spread some of his kibble around out there. The wife and I were both out there on the grass with him, and then he finally pooped on his grass again. Whatever issues he was having seem to be gone because now he searches the grass for leftover bits of food he may have missed. I think our dog would walk over flaming broken glass for a mouthful of food.
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Aug 5, 2010 15:11
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Do big cats like catnip?? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tklx3j7kgJY apparently, yes. Look at that leopard  He is stoned out of his freaking mind.
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Aug 6, 2010 05:27
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Fire In The Disco posted:You may think the box is clean enough, but she may disagree. If you aren't already, try scooping in the morning and in the evening, and see if that helps. What smells worse to a cat, the poo or the pee? The ammoniac smell of the pee seems worse to me, but who knows. I'm making an effort to scoop more, but I don't know if attacking the urine clumps and exposing them to the air more frequently would help.
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Aug 6, 2010 07:04
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If the clumps are breaking up when you scoop them, you might want to try a different litter. We've settled on Arm & Hammer Multiple Cat, and it doesn't break up when I scoop. It might be method, too. The way I scoop is this: I tilt the box back so that all the litter goes to the back. This moves most of the pee clumps, but there's generally one or two stuck to the front wall. I knock the outside of the front wall and they fall. Then I scoop them and everything loose that is at the back. Then I tilt the whole box forward to get the clumps stuck on the back off.
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Aug 6, 2010 14:42
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Ola Ugh posted:Our little bastard cairn terrier rolled around in poo and got covered head to tail in it about an hour ago. :/ Did you check the collar? My beagle used to roll in the nastiest stuff and work it into every little crevice in his collar. Also, thanks for all of the ideas. She's not a fatty (8-9 lbs) or elderly (3? yrs), so I'll try one of those Rubbermaid containers. She's lucky she's so adorable.
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Aug 7, 2010 01:59
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Yeargh. I noticed Husker had been drinking an insane amount of water yesterday and having to go out a lot, but sometimes he does that when it's hot, so I didn't really pay it any mind. I stopped refilling his bowl about an hour before bedtime, and we took him out right before bed. About an hour and a half after we had gone to sleep, we wake up to the sound of him peeing in the middle of our carpeted floor. Joy. I don't know if he had been wandering our room and just didn't wake us, or what. My husband took him outside to see if he needed to pee any more, we put a towel down, and everyone went back to sleep. At 4:30 or so we wake up to the sound of more peeing, this time right in the middle of his bed. Fortunately he has more than one bed, and he made it til 7 when I got up to take him out and feed him without any more incidents. I called the vet while he was out doing his morning wander in the back yard and got a 12:30 appointment for him. He's acting 100% normal other than the thirst and the peeing, and doesn't seem to be having any discomfort while urinating. What the hell could this be? UTI was my first thought, but I know it's pretty unusual in males. Blargh. Anyway, I guess I'm glad this happened now instead of in a month when we'll be leaving him with my sister for six days...  Edit: Well, nothing conclusive yet. No abnormally high amounts of blood in the urine, so it has to wait for a full urinalysis. Blood drawn, and they had to tap both back legs, so he's got some lovely bruises  Oh, and he had an ear infection, both sides. Scale of 1-4, 1 on the right and 3 on the left. I'm kind of mad about that because he had the same dark gunk in his ears at his wellness visit several months ago and a different vet at the same clinic said it was nothing. 10 days worth of drops + whatever treatment the blood test results and urinalysis dictate. $400 spent already, w00t. He was a super good boy at the vet, though, and didn't even seem perturbed by the more invasive stuff. Oh, and she didn't want to do his vaccinations because of the ear infection, so we have to go back for those and a follow-up in a few weeks. It's a good thing I love the hell out of this dog. RazorBunny fucked around with this message at 19:52 on Aug 7, 2010 |
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Aug 7, 2010 16:00
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What do you PI regulars recommend doing when a stray kitten is found? There are two stray kittens that have been sleeping in the hallway of one of the buildings in my apartment complex. I just noticed them today, but others in my building say they've been there since yesterday. They look like they're just past 8 weeks and, likely, were abandoned by someone who use to live here. My neighbor has tried calling some no-kill shelters in the area, but most of the places she found are closed on the weekends. The one no-kill shelter I know of says they're full. I left messages for one other, but I haven't gotten a reply. Should I: (1)Take them to the regular county shelter that isn't no-kill, but where they'd hopefully be adopted quickly since they're kittens? or (2)Leave them here for now and try to contact more no-kill shelters on Monday? People in the complex are feeding them. I'm a little concerned about them being left outside though. At least here they're both together and might be adopted by someone else in the complex?
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Aug 7, 2010 20:31
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Keri posted:What do you PI regulars recommend doing when a stray kitten is found? Take them in, the chance of them dying out there are very high and it's really important at this stage in their development to have human contact. 8 week old kittens also need to eat far more than what the neighbors can be feeding them. Can you take care of them in your home at least until Monday? The chances of them being euthed at the kill shelter is high, even though they are kittens. They just don't have the resources often times. If they are able to try to adopt them out you can always have them call you to pick them back up before they are euthed so you can try to place them elsewhere. Being euthed is better than living feral on the streets though.
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Aug 8, 2010 03:23
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I was at a local petstore where I buy my carefresh and cat food, and noticed while there that the majority of the reptiles they had were skinny, sickly, and/or out of water completely. The cages looked like they hadn't been cleaned in a while too - small pieces of shed snake skin and poops around. I told the cashier, who told what I assume was the manager, and he didn't seem to take it too seriously. He sort of brushed it off and said somebody would take care of it after they got back from their break. Previous times I've been there I noticed a few less-than-clean cages but at least everyone looked well fed and had water. I've also seen outrageously crowded mouse and rat cages, not even just the feeders. I called the other store of the same name (local chain I guess, but there are only 2 stores) and found out they are owned by two different people. I've been to the other one, and the animals always seem well cared for and in clean environments and not overcrowded like with the mice/rats at the one I went to tonight. Who should I contact about the horrible animal care? Animal control? I have no idea, I've never run into this kind of issue before. This is in Delaware, if it's relevant. I just want the little critters to be okay 
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Aug 8, 2010 04:33
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Joonami posted:I was at a local petstore where I buy my carefresh and cat food, and noticed while there that the majority of the reptiles they had were skinny, sickly, and/or out of water completely. The cages looked like they hadn't been cleaned in a while too - small pieces of shed snake skin and poops around. I told the cashier, who told what I assume was the manager, and he didn't seem to take it too seriously. He sort of brushed it off and said somebody would take care of it after they got back from their break. Previous times I've been there I noticed a few less-than-clean cages but at least everyone looked well fed and had water. I've also seen outrageously crowded mouse and rat cages, not even just the feeders. Hopefully AC in your area is actually responsive, that's all you can really do other than somehow calling up the corporate chain which probably would get even less of a responsive than poorly run/funded AC. Other than that I wouldn't return to that particular store anymore.
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Aug 8, 2010 04:47
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Is there any sort of problems that a poorly bred Border Collie might have that would cause one to die with 80% kidney failure? My boyfriend's parents bought him about a year ago from who knows where with the intention of breeding him with the female BC they bought just a few months ago. He hadn't been eating very well recently but they found him today lying in the grass, not moving. (I am fully aware that what they were doing is BYBing but I am really not in a position to do anything about it and now the problem has solved itself.) They're not getting a necropsy/autopsy done so they have no clue. Any ideas, PI?
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Aug 8, 2010 05:39
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KilGrey posted:Take them in, the chance of them dying out there are very high and it's really important at this stage in their development to have human contact. 8 week old kittens also need to eat far more than what the neighbors can be feeding them. Can you take care of them in your home at least until Monday? The chances of them being euthed at the kill shelter is high, even though they are kittens. They just don't have the resources often times. If they are able to try to adopt them out you can always have them call you to pick them back up before they are euthed so you can try to place them elsewhere. Being euthed is better than living feral on the streets though. Thanks for the response. I left them food and some water in a bowl yesterday afternoon and then went out to run errands. When I got home ~3 hours later they were both gone, along with the food and the water dish. Either someone in the apartment complex took them both in or the apartment complex called animal control to come get them and cleaned up. I'm hoping someone took them in, but either way they're no longer out on the streets. I might check the County Shelter website later, to see if they're listed there as found or adoptable. I really wish I could have kept them or taken them in, but I already have two cats.
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Aug 8, 2010 23:48
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Can you have a cat door and train a cat to not use it? I'm moving soon and the place I'm thinking of moving to has an indoor/outdoor cat right now so they have a cat door installed already. My cat used to be an outdoor cat but is now an exclusively indoor cat. I'm scared my cat will run off if I move there and get lost/hit by a car/not come home. Despite seeing another cat go out the door, is there any way to prevent my cat from doing the same?
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Aug 9, 2010 05:57
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Lackadaisical posted:Can you have a cat door and train a cat to not use it? I'm moving soon and the place I'm thinking of moving to has an indoor/outdoor cat right now so they have a cat door installed already. My cat used to be an outdoor cat but is now an exclusively indoor cat. I do not think there is any reliable way to train a cat not to use an open access point available to them. However, cat doors like you describe usually have a slot that you can insert a barrier (usually wood) to prevent a cat (or whatever) from going in or out through it. In the worse case scenario, you need to buy a new door.
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Aug 9, 2010 06:04
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My question is trivial, but it's something I've been wondering about for a while now and I'm not sure my friends' opinions on the matter are genuine or just meant to spare my feelings. It's the height of summer here in Phoenix and walking the dog sucks because the heat is so oppressive. This year seems like a special trial because Zoe has suffered health problems that cause her to tire easily, especially in high temperatures. Still, she must be exercised or she becomes yappy, neurotic and generally intolerable. Plus, walks make us both happy.  I've taken to walking her between 1 and 2 a.m. to avoid the worst of it. While on our walk, we often cause other dogs to wake up and bark at us, potentially disturbing my human neighbors. To avoid this I've put those rubber silencers on Zoe's tags and always make sure I wear quiet sneakers (no flip-flops or steel-tipped stilettos or wooden clogs). There are three streets I make sure never to walk down because of clusters of dogs that feed off of each others' barking. With other houses it helps if we cross the street. Even so, we always disturb a few dogs per night. I feel really, really guilty about it. Am I a total rear end in a top hat for walking Zoe this late? Should I choose to drive her to a park each night instead or try some other option? I think I'm probably an rear end in a top hat.
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Aug 9, 2010 15:18
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KilGrey posted:Take them in, the chance of them dying out there are very high and it's really important at this stage in their development to have human contact. 8 week old kittens also need to eat far more than what the neighbors can be feeding them. Can you take care of them in your home at least until Monday? The chances of them being euthed at the kill shelter is high, even though they are kittens. They just don't have the resources often times. If they are able to try to adopt them out you can always have them call you to pick them back up before they are euthed so you can try to place them elsewhere. Being euthed is better than living feral on the streets though. I live in an apartment complex with lots of stray cats. I mean lots and lots, young and old. I can tell a lot of them live in the area underneath my apartment, because sometimes when it's quite, I can hear them fighting or whatever. But I can also hear them begging at my back door, because I'm assuming they get moderate success doing it at other houses (I've caved a few times when the cat looks particularly thin, but I can't afford to feed them all). What would you suggest in that scenario? No way I can trap them all, but I don't want them to get hit by cars, or just starve. And I can tell my cats get agitated by the sound sometimes.
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Aug 9, 2010 15:37
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lemonlime posted:
Why would you blame yourself for the training failures of other people? Dogs barking at strange dogs outside their house can be stopped through proper training. It's not particularly easy once the habit of barking has become fully entrenched, but it's possible. Plus, crate training cuts down significantly on alert barking. And if you walking your dog at 1 a.m. is disturbing other dogs you can bet that you're not the only thing causing barking fits each night.
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Aug 9, 2010 16:12
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I adopted a stray kitten about a year ago (after swearing up and down I would never get a cat) and in general he's been pretty great. Plays well with humans and other dogs/cats, never any problems with doing his business outside the litter, very affectionate, and doesn't tear up the furniture. There's only one thing he does which is really really odd and I haven't been able to break him of it or explain it. He has some sort of compulsion when it comes to water, he will consistently splash almost all the water out of his dish before drinking it or will splash his water out of the dish just for the hell of it it seems. He always has fresh, clean water which I've always replaced regularly. It's not a huge issue, I have a little rubber mat that I put his food/water on and that seems to contain most of the mess (as well as a towel under that) Anyway, this behavior isn't too big of a hassle, but it's getting a little annoying always having a huge wet spot around his feeding area. Is there a reason for this behavior (outside of "he's weird") or any way I could persuade him to cut it out?
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Aug 9, 2010 17:53
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Some cats just like splashy water, perhaps it makes them feel the water is more fresh. They sell cat fountains at most shops, it might be worth giving one a try to see if your cat takes to that. Check the returns policy in case your cat still splashes water all over though.
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Aug 9, 2010 19:08
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I'm hoping you guys could help me figure out what breed a puppy I saw at a no kill shelter is . My sister (who works there) thought it was going to be a small breed dog, but I think it's going to be medium in size. He seems to have shepherd in him - he has blue eyes, gold fur and he's very fluffy. He has pretty short legs and he's so mellow - I love that  . Sorry for the crappy pictures, I took these with my cellphone. The lady in charge thought it was a golden retriever & lab mix, but I really doubt that. My guess is that he's at least 3 or 4 months old.    
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Aug 10, 2010 08:06
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daynip posted:I'm hoping you guys could help me figure out what breed a puppy I saw at a no kill shelter is It's super difficult to get a good read on the breed mixes of young puppies since they all come out looking roughly the same. The colour and fur texture suggests that there's some Golden in him, but he looks too wirey to be a purebred. It's not a bad guess that there's some sort of herding breed in him. It's highly unlikely, but could be some NS Duck Tolling Retriever. Here's a pure Golden puppy as a point of reference:  And a Toller:  Looking at his paws, my guess is the dog will top out at about 40lbs when fully grown.
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Aug 10, 2010 14:22
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Does anyone make a safety cable for a leash that will connect a leash to a harness and collar at the same time? My harness fits great except for when my puppy lays down and I need to tug it to motivate her to continue walking. Today the entire thing almost slipped off in the process. Got me thinking since I always leave the collar on, if someone made a little safety cable that connects the leash to both as a backup. Looking on amazon most Y-cables are for two dogs and way too long.
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Aug 10, 2010 16:11
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a life less posted:Why would you blame yourself for the training failures of other people? But to reason all that out for myself would require me to use logic. Someone already told me something close to that, but because she's my friend I didn't believe her. To be sure, there are coyotes running around everywhere, not to mention roaming packs of teens (all nice in my experience) who are less quiet than the two of us. Thanks for the unbiased view.
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Aug 10, 2010 16:49
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Does anyone have any advice on how to get a dog to quit bringing me dead animals (like you'd expect an outdoor cat to)? I've never had this problem before, but I recently took in a 10 year old heeler who was nominally someone's pet but really mostly on her own for the vast majority of her life. She brings me dead rabbits, birds, and lizards about 1-3 times per week--basically, whenever she's left on her own for more than an hour or so. She's totally devoted to me and goes with me pretty much everywhere I can safely take her and is basically my shadow when we're at home, and I think she's just hunting and bringing the produce back to me but I don't know, I've never dealt with this before. She comes up to me and drops them at my feet and looks so proud of herself and so eager for praise. I've tried scolding her twice, but it actually seems to intensify the behavior...she'll run and hide (and I can't find her for the life of me) and then bring me several dead animals within a day or so, usually staying hidden but leaving them by the door. (We live in the middle of nowhere and since she's a more or less semi-feral dog, we're still working on getting her into the swing of being a full-time house dog). I think she's just looking for approval. She comes with me while I work during the day (always outdoor ag-type stuff, a lot of travelling to other ranches for farrier work) and I always try to set her little tasks and reward her for them. Like I said, she's 10 and really had nothing but very occasional feeding and vet care until I took her in a few months ago. In that time we've gotten her gentled down, and responding to her name, "sit," "down," sometimes "stay," and also doing some basic herding and agility work). I'm not sure what to do. In one way it isn't that big of a deal as we have plenty of rabbits, but the birds are worrying and I'm also concerned she'll start in on my chickens. She only really does it when left alone but absolutely panics when we try to confine her to the point where she literally wore her little paws to blood while trying to dig out of a large kennel we have. She also never actually wanders off at all...whenever I come home after leaving her alone she's waiting by the front door. Any advice other than just keep trying to work with her to the point where we can confine her without her injuring herself? edit: I should add, this dog is basically a stray, which is pretty unusual here as we are very remote and distanced from our nearest neighbors. I do know who she belonged to, although they won't admit it but I remember seeing her around there and they have a reputation for that sort of care or lack thereof. So I'm kind of taming a feral dog as opposed to taking in a stray pet, if that makes sense. edit2: I'm also kind of concerned it is a territorial thing, as I've seen her kill one bird and that was a noisy one who lived on the cleared property around the homestead. When we're out in the far pastures or on BLM land she pretty much entirely ignores other animals and just trots along behind my horse unless I tell her to do something else. She's also fine with small animals on my clients' properties, including fowl and rabbits, and is fine inside with our indoor cats. She seems to be very offended when she sees any animal but the livestock or other dogs on our homestead, though. 2tomorrow fucked around with this message at 22:42 on Aug 10, 2010 |
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Aug 10, 2010 22:34
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Why does my cat play in her water bowl? I've lived in this house for a total of 3 days and she's already made big water drip-lines in the paint on the wall behind her bowl. She's always done what we call "washing her hands" but now she's taking full scoops of water and just loving flinging it everywhere. WHY. HOW DO I STOP IT. loving CATS. Also, it's noisy at night. I threw a penny at her. e: Oh this was addressed like 3 posts up. Oops sorry, thread is a little TL;DR now :/ Damn Bananas fucked around with this message at 16:46 on Aug 11, 2010 |
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Aug 11, 2010 16:25
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What are some reputable online pet med sites?
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Aug 12, 2010 03:12
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BiohazrD posted:What are some reputable online pet med sites? http://www.drsfostersmith.com/ is the first that comes to mind as a reputable site. The problem with many online pet med sites, is that you run the risk of inappropriate transportation (like a FedEx truck being too hot) or you get products on the verge of, or even past expiration. You even hear rumors of Chinese knockoffs being sold, so you always need to be aware and on top of things.
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Aug 12, 2010 03:39
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2tomorrow posted:She brings me dead rabbits, birds, and lizards about 1-3 times per week--basically, whenever she's left on her own for more than an hour or so. I think I see the problem...
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Aug 12, 2010 19:38
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Is there any place online or off that sells rawhide for less than the obscenely expensive price at petsmart or petco? My dog loves them but they just seem like they should not cost as much as the specialty stores charge.
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Aug 12, 2010 23:38
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