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MoCookies posted:My dogs have a disgusting new hobby - catching and eating field mice. What zoonotic diseases might they also be catching? Intestinal parasites, I would think... probably want to talk to the vet about getting them on a regular deworming schedule. Once that's done, though, you get all the benefits of raw feeding without any of the work! 
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Jun 10, 2008 18:13
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Helanna posted:It didn't occur to me until I got it home, but the diffuser is in the same room that the ferrets cage is. That's not likely to be a problem is it? Wasn't for ours. Sniffing it directly did seem to make them sneeze a bit, though, so you may want to unplug it while they're out playing.
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Jun 10, 2008 23:50
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Lioness posted:Cats piss and poo poo in litterboxes, dogs piss and poo poo outside. Yep. In more detail: dogs don't have the instinct to bury their waste like cats do, so they won't naturally seek out places that are good for burying. So it's VERY hard and generally not worth it to litter train them unless you have some sort of bubble boy dog that can't go outside ever. Plus, not burying anything means that everything will be out on top of the box, stinking up your house.
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Jun 25, 2008 00:58
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Tuna's not bad, but it's not nutritionally complete unless you get something like this that's designed as a complete food for cats. Regular tuna is ok as a little treat, but they should be mostly eating other stuff. As was said on the first page of this thread, if you want to know if a food is bad, look at the ingredients. If it's full of corn, grains, byproducts, and meat from unspecified animals, it is bad. If you have trouble finding the good foods mentioned or can't afford them, try Kirkland cat food from Costco. It's surprisingly good.
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Jul 16, 2008 20:54
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Electric Pez posted:My mother started letting our cats outside a while ago and now if we do not allow them out they get...rude. Or tear out a screen. Is there any way at all to make them stop wanting to go out? Play with them a lot more inside, take them for regular walks on a leash and harness (there will be a lot of pulling and trying to drag you under bushes as they get used to this, and they WILL beg for it so you'll have to keep doing it), or get some sort of outdoor enclosure. Or get better screens and ignore them until they give up.
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Jul 22, 2008 01:49
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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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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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C.TheRaven posted:holy poo poo Honestly, I would seriously suggest you give some more thought to a young adult, simply because by that age (maybe only 10-12 months) some of them have decided that they HATE other cats and so would be happy as an only cat. I can definitely understand wanting a baby to get the maximum amount of time with it though - my boyfriend and I almost bought ferrets from a pet store rather than adopting because of that - and if you want to adopt a kitten that's cool too... I just think an adult cat who's already known to hate other cats might be a better fit. Any kitten that's been living in a foster home should be flea-free unless the shelter is REALLY sketchy, so you shouldn't have to deal with that. Solid Gold is very good and if you can get it cheap you should go for it. I would get the "B" program, since you're not going to be feeding Science Diet.
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Aug 8, 2008 23:22
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Silly Hippie posted:I know I got that one right, but here's some advice I gave him to give her that I was kinda unsure on: the dog bites from time to time, mostly playful chewing of hands, and I told him that when she does that, he should pull his hand away calmly and ignore the dog and walk away, still ignoring her... is this right? It's worked for me in the past, and according to him when he tried it tonight, the dog "looked sad" and went to get one of her toys instead. I don't know if that's a good sign or what. So, before he passes this on to his cousin- who luckily thinks I'm a credible source- it'd be nice to know if I'm telling him something totally wrong. Nope, you're fine, it's a good thing to do. They can also try yelping a little bit, like a hurt puppy would yelp. Yelping and refusing to play is how littermates teach one another how much biting is too much... and if they're consistent, eventually the puppy should learn that humans should not be bitten at all. Also, do you know what she's feeding him? He should be on some kind of puppy food right now, but once he grows up, if she's not willing to get really high quality stuff, you could suggest Kirkland Signature dog food from Costco if she has a membership. Under $30 for 40 pounds and pretty decent stuff. (and remember the good food = less shedding and less-stinky poop argument!)
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Aug 10, 2008 07:53
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Meow Cadet posted:The bowl might smell weird. Is it plastic, ceramic or steel? Or maybe it's too small. If his whiskers hit the edge of the bowl, maybe that freaks him out. Or maybe the placement of the bowl is poor. Is it near a loud appliance? Or maybe he's just weird. Our cat's dish is a flat ceramic plate, and even when the food is mounded up above the top of the plate, she'll take a paw, knock it onto the floor, and THEN eat it. 
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Aug 18, 2008 02:06
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FloydianOne posted:Also the #1 ingredient in his food is corn, which from what Ive heard could also be a problem. Absolutely, ew. Check out the pet nutrition megathread for more advice, but you're definitely going to want to move him to something without corn. If your brother's too cheap to go to one of the foods listed as "Premium" or "Ultra Premium" in there and you know somebody with a Costco membership, you can start with Kirkland Signature dog food. It's not completely awesome, but it's corn free and not too expensive. It might not fix the problem, as the dog could be allergic to chicken as well, but given the crappiness of the food he's on now, I'm betting that corn is a significant part of the problem.
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Aug 18, 2008 20:30
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Crazedscot posted:I'm assuming it's okay to switch between different flavours of the same brand of dry catfood without mixing it like one would with a completely different brand, am I assuming correctly. Also, should I be overly concerned that my cat shows no interest whatsoever in cat treats of any type? Unless you count moths as a treat, when she can catch them. Depends on how different the formulas are. If it's something like "chicken, chicken meal, rice, BEEF, etc" versus "chicken, chicken meal, rice, FISH, etc" then a switch is less of a big deal than if the ingredients are significantly different. I would probably mix, myself, though. And moths ARE treats, duh.
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Aug 19, 2008 16:50
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porkchoppie posted:Ok, this seems like a really stupid thing to post about but I'm doing it anyway. Cats that haven't been hunters from a young age will not necessarily have any loving clue what to do with prey, and even cats that do may go for a chase/bat/maim/ignore approach. My cat is an excellent mouser, and when we lived in our old place we got a couple of mice in the fall. She didn't seem to have much fun dealing with them, to be honest. As soon as she got a whiff of rodent, she'd go into stalking mode and would wait, frozen, for HOURS until the mouse decided to take its chance, come out from the hole under the cupboards, and walk past her. She'd kill them, show them off to us, strut around proudly, and then just go back to normal. She really seems to have a lot more fun with pieces of string, and even if we'd wanted to give her mice to play with here we'd have had to be willing to let them hang out in the cupboards for hours so she could do her normal hunting routine.  If he's so insistent on letting the cat hunt, why not get her used to a harness and take her out to a field with grasshoppers or frogs? They're good prey, too, and they won't escape and breed in your house and pee on everything.
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Aug 20, 2008 03:10
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Silly Hippie posted:horrible people with dog problems Once they get this urinary thing treated (I really really really really hope they do) you could suggest that they switch to Kirkland Signature dog food from Costco. It's pretty cheap (something like $27 for 40 lb), pretty good (no corn or byproducts, ingredients begin with meat) and... cheap people really like Costco, right? Tell them it'll make her shed less and have poop that doesn't stink as much.
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Sep 7, 2008 03:43
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Silly Hippie posted:edit: forgot to mention, maplecheese, that you recommended that food before. I passed the info on and apparently whoever buys the food really didn't care. Thanks, though Oh, right! I thought I recognized your username from something. Oh well... 
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Sep 7, 2008 05:04
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hitension posted:What to do with a mouse found live? Not a good idea. Might give the hamster diseases, or they might fight later even if they didn't fight right away. Get the mouse into a big covered garbage can and dump it in a nearby place that provides the best mouse habitat that isn't a human home - somebody's yard, in some bushes, in a garden with lots of plants to hide under, under a tree that has some ground cover near it, whatever.
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Sep 8, 2008 02:04
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Lareine posted:One of my cats caught a mouse and ate it. I'm kinda worried about parasites. What kind of nasties can a cat pick up from eating a mouse? Tapeworms, roundworms... you can talk to your vet about deworming options if you'd like. But worms aren't necessarily THAT bad for an otherwise healthy adult cat that has plenty to eat. Still gross, though.
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Sep 8, 2008 05:59
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Jenkin posted:After I brushed her for a few minutes I realized that the cloth had a decent amount of blood on it, but she wasn't overtly bleeding and I couldn't seem to find a wound although her skin looked quite irritated. I also couldn't look at her for very long. Could flea bites have caused this? She had a lot of flea poop in the fur I was brushing off of her. Maybe the moisture was rehydrating dried blood? Flea dirt (aka flea poop) will turn red on a wet paper towel because of all the blood in it - that's actually how you're supposed to tell it apart from regular dirt or something else an animal has gotten in its coat. So if the cloth was actually wet, I'd say that's quite likely where it came from.
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Sep 24, 2008 06:55
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Crazedscot posted:Any reason a cat would suddenly start excessively grooming herself? I'm getting a little worried she's going to lick herself raw. She's only started this since her last visit to the vet. She seems to focus on trying to lick the back of her neck to the point of exhaustion, but she'll eventually give up on that then lick herself all over till she's slick and then sleep a bit. I'm trying to convince myself she's just sore and stressed out from her antibiotic injection yesterday, though i'm aware it could possibly be her change in diet too but is this the sort of behaviour I should expect? Hmmm. Is she scratching a bunch, too? Lots of scratching and licking can be a sign of a food allergy that makes the animal itchy.
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Oct 4, 2008 23:03
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Noumena posted:This may sound a little silly, but I was curious if anybody here knows why he squats to pee, like a female dog, instead of doing the whole iconic lifting one leg stance. Obviously I'm not concerned that there's something wrong with him, but it's something I've been wondering about. Does lifting the leg have anything to do with a dog swinging his testicles out of the way? I had Poe fixed when his testes were only partially descended, so would that have anything to do with it? My childhood dog, a rough coat collie, always squatted to pee after an incident in his puppyhood when he peed directly on an electric fence. I'm not sure if it was lasting physical damage or just psychological, as I was pretty young at the time.
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Oct 21, 2008 08:53
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Chicken (or whatever animal) meal tends to contain the crappier parts of the chicken, with a lower proportion of good meat and a higher proportion of connective tissue and whatnot than you'd get if you just tossed a whole chicken into a grinder. On the other hand, chicken meal has some of the water cooked out of it... so a food with an ingredients list that says, say, "chicken meal, rice, [other stuff]" may have considerably more chicken than one whose ingredients list says "chicken, rice, [other stuff]" because the order of foods on the ingredient list is determined by weight. My favourite cat food's ingredients list goes "deboned chicken, chicken meal, turkey meal, [other ingredients]" - best of both worlds!
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Oct 21, 2008 23:58
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Saerdna, I would go with guinea pigs or rabbits in your situation. Both would be very happy to share your vegetables and take care of your carrot tops, veggie peels, and extra leafy greens.100 Years in Iraq posted:Just out of curiosity, why? Is it because you don't want stinky dog/cat food around? The chickens, cows, and other animals that become pet food have lives exactly as horrible as the ones that become human food.
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Nov 25, 2008 01:22
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Unagi posted:tldr: Old cat who was previously only outdoors, integrated indoors just fine, used litter boxes fine but now all of a sudden does not poop in litter boxes. But pees in them fine. You could try Cat Attract litter and see if that makes him think the litterbox is a cool place where all the cool cats like to be. sw0cb posted:So i recently got two 9 week old kittens, and there great, except that the male refuses to use the litter box. The female does fine and has no problems, but the male continually craps right next to it instead of in it. Any ideas? How big is the litterbox, and how low are the sides? Sometimes cats don't want to bother stepping into the box, or think that close to it = good enough. You might want to try a bigger litterbox that's easier to get into. Smam posted:Is a trip to the vet needed?? Close him in the bathroom with you when you shower, or just keep him in the bathroom with the shower running on hot. Warm moist air will help loosen up the gunk. Also, don't panic if he starts eating a bit less - smell is really important to cats, and they often don't eat much if they can't smell very well. If he's not eating as much as he should, try giving him some canned food, or if he already eats canned, heating it up a little bit so it gets smellier. If he gets worse, you should probably suck it up and go to the vet. Crazedscot posted:shoelace butt Trim anything that's hanging out and keep a close eye on her. If it's only a short piece, she'll probably be fine... and anything that's sticking out of an animal's butt has made it almost all of the way through already. maplecheese fucked around with this message at 08:22 on Dec 3, 2008 |
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Dec 3, 2008 07:30
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Yeet posted:Question is, is there something physically wrong him? Only a vet can tell that. Take him in. And get a new mattress, eww.
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Dec 14, 2008 06:32
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Aerofallosov posted:I have a 6 month old kitten, and I was wondering if it's better to have a pet sitter come visit my apartment and take care of her over winter break or to bring her with me to my house? How long does the trip take, how long will you be gone, and does the kitten hate change or lack of attention more?
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Dec 14, 2008 19:46
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tofurkey posted:My cat has what looks like a white-head pimple on her chin. I've read about cat acne and that it is possible for cats to get pimples as well as the dirt looking acne but, could it be anything more serious like an insect/spider bite that I should look after? Does she get really pissed off if you try to touch it? Is she eating and drinking ok? If she isn't reacting with obvious pain and she's otherwise acting normal, I'd just keep an eye on it.
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Dec 15, 2008 14:36
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aunt moneybags posted:SO I guess my questions are, should I get some smelly wet food to get her to eat more, and is my mom being a bitch when she says "SHE IS YOUR CHILD AND YOU ARE BEING A BAD MOM!!"? Something extra tasty might help coax her out, but as long as she's still eating regularly, even if it's a reduced amount, she shouldn't be in danger. I think your mom is just used to dogs. Think about what it takes to dogsit versus what it takes to catsit. With dogs, you probably want someone coming over to let the dog out three times a day, with at least one of those times being a good walk. They're going to need to be fed, played with, brushed if they have a high-maintenance coat, bathed if they get into something on their walks... A catsitter just needs to drop by once day, or maybe every other day if they're busy, to check the food, water, and litterbox, and make sure the cat isn't having any major medical crises. A really excellent catsitter will pet the cat or dangle a mousie on a string for a little bit while they watch your tv. The animals just have different needs. If you can get your mom to realize that, awesome. If not... well, try not to feel too bad.
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Dec 17, 2008 14:12
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Yep, like Helanna said, probably just cat acne. If you don't have the time or money to go out and get new bowls right now, try using some of your own plates and bowls - we use a small ceramic saucer for our cat's food, and we used to use a cereal bowl for her water. Just remember to wash them often to be sure they stay clean. You can also wipe the cat's chin (gently!) with a warm washcloth.
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Dec 17, 2008 19:43
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You could try raising the humidity in the apartment. That has really helped our ferret's skin problems. You can buy a little humidifier, put pans of water on radiators/next to heat vents, hang wet clothes up to dry rather than putting them in the dryer, boil water on the stove...
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Dec 24, 2008 06:26
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Serella posted:So my sister just moved out to California and left her two guinea pigs in the care of my mother. This now makes three guinea pigs she's taking care of, and the cost of bedding is really getting expensive. When she only had one, she used Carefresh exclusively, but now that there are three, she has no choice but to mix in a little bit of wood chips otherwise she'd be shelling out $20 a week on a big bag of Carefresh to keep all the cages clean, and this on top of the increased cost of food. What about wood stove pellets? They're what we use for our ferrets' litter, and you can generally get them in either softwood or hardwood. If you go hardwood, you're guaranteed that it's not pine or cedar, which have scents that might bother the guinea pigs' respiratory systems. Would that be okay, guinea pig people? They're basically compressed sawdust pellets that sort of fall apart when moisture hits them, and they are incredibly cheap if you get them from, say, Home Depot during the winter. I pay about $5 for 40 lb. They're also used as an underlayer for horse bedding.
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Dec 29, 2008 03:00
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RyanNotBrian posted:I'd be hesitant to leave a collar and device on him all day while we were out. He's a toy poodle puppy and can get into mischief. I wouldn't want the collar to catch on something and choke him. He really does need to wear a collar for his own safety in case he gets lost. There IS a kind of pet door that works by checking the pet's microchip, though - see http://www.microchipcatflaps.co.uk/ . You would have to pay £50 for shipping if you're not in Europe, though, which I think is rather exorbitant. Plus the thing itself costs £124.29.
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Jan 3, 2009 02:15
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CharlesWillisMaddox posted:My rear end in a top hat neighbours tied some dog to their porch using a rope, so I'm assuming they can go get hammered, and it has been howling (not really barking) and yelping for the past 45 minutes, its also about -30c out. It'd probably be best to call the cops and/or animal control instead. Tell us where you are if you need help finding the information.
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Jan 3, 2009 06:03
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Even if this thing is a husky with a full winter coat, -30 is REALLY COLD to be out at night without any kind of decent shelter. It might have stopped barking because it's too cold. (What kind of dog IS it, anyway?) Right now, the cold is way more of a threat to its well being than being a little hungry... Your neighbours suck.
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Jan 3, 2009 06:18
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My cat really likes one particular dog treat that's just a chunk of freeze dried meat. Yum yum. (also, she doesn't have a water fountain and only has one litterbox)
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Jan 12, 2009 03:16
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CompactFanny posted:Not sure if this warrants its own thread, but... Lots of people are talking about guinea pigs in this thread: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3048807
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Jan 17, 2009 05:30
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alucinor posted:Oh dear god, no. Ferrets are predators and will kill rabbits if they can. They were actually used in England to hunt rabbits up until the last century. Ferrets shouldn't even be housed in the same room as a rabbits, as their very scent will send the rabbits into a stress response that can end in shock and death (seen fairly commonly in shelters who unwittingly house them near one another). God, I WISH my ferrets would do that. One once STEPPED on a frog without noticing it. drat things have no predatory instinct whatsoever. They do, however, still SMELL predator-y and move in a predator-like way, and I can only assume would terrify a poor rabbit if it caught sight or scent of them.
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Jan 19, 2009 23:58
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What are these pies posted:Cross-posted from the ferret thread: Dude I replied to you there. <  >Edit: oh wait, all your posts here are before I replied there. Oops. For the curious, I said "Are her bowels fully obstructed, or is she managing to poop at least a little? Is she still eating at all? If she's not able to poop at all and isn't eating, laxatives aren't going to fix this and it would be much kinder to put her down. If she is still pooping and eating a bit... is this just a generic veterinary laxative, or is it FerretLax or something else specifically marketed for ferrets? If it's the generic stuff, head to Petsmart and get some FerretLax. All the ferrets I've had have really liked the taste, and it should be given during shedding season as a preventative even if there's no obstruction."
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Feb 1, 2009 18:36
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What are these pies posted:To answer your question, Maple cheese, she is eating a little and pooping a little. So I don't think it is completely obstructed. Which is very good. How does her poop look? Is it super, super thin, like it's being squeezed through a very small space, or is it of a fairly normal width? Also, how experienced is your vet at treating ferrets? Not offering you some high-calorie canned food or telling you to pick up some calorie supplement paste when you have an animal that needs to be encouraged to eat seems... odd to me.
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Feb 1, 2009 20:38
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A couple times when our ferrets have needed to eat more, the vet's given us a can of prescription high-calorie cat food, like Hill's a/d. There are lots of recipes online for supplemental high-calorie ferret food, generally under the name "duck soup". (add the word "ferret" to that search string or you'll just get a Marx Brothers movie and recipes for soup made with duck meat) There are also calorie supplement goos like NutriCal, which you can generally find in the cat section at pet stores. These tend to be pretty sugary and aren't actually GOOD for the ferret long-term, but they're pretty decent as a temporary source of calories. Anyway, contact the vet and ask if you should be encouraging the ferret to eat more, and if s/he has any suggestions.
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Feb 1, 2009 21:41
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Meow Cadet posted:We're moving from a carpeted apartment, to a wood-floored house. During zoomies, I can tell the cats use the carpet for traction. Is there anything I should/could do to make their transition to wood floors easier? Rubber bottomed rugs, particularly at corners and other places where they're likely to change direction. I use washable ones, and it's really nice to be able to just toss it in the washing machine if the cat throws up on it or wipes a dangling poo off on it or if a ferret shits on it.
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Feb 2, 2009 23:59
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