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Dr. Housecat MD posted:Kittens (and puppies) are wretched little arseholes, much of the time, while adults are usually more calm and appreciative. YMMV, though. Right now Charlie is being a wretched little arsehole, in that I'm awake doing a paper and his dad is in the other room asleep. Rather than curling up with his human, he's out here bugging the crap out of me. I guess I'm a lot more likely to pet him than the sleeping guy. But the cat and my laptop do not both fit on my lap, and that is a fundamental problem for him.
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Dec 5, 2007 08:17
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Dr. Housecat MD posted:Some animals just don't like water bottles. Or they might just not be enticed to figure it out, since they have dishes. I've never kept a chinchilla, but we had a rabbit who wasn't bottle-trained. I think my folks picked him up and bumped his nose against the bottle until it wet his face a little. He figured it out pretty well. I bet you anything the various chinchilla websites will have advice on this. And if they never take to it, Housecat's crock idea is good. I'm so glad my rats came knowing how to use the bottle. They make such a mess with a dish.
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Dec 10, 2007 23:28
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We went to Petland last night to kill some time and pet some furry things. Oh dear god, the hideous mutant puppies they had there. I've seen adorable schnoodles; the one there was a wreck. There were several ugly Maltese crosses, a couple of gross-looking Shih Tzu crosses. PI has convinced me how bad the BYB/mill situation is, but I wasn't really against the idea of purebred crosses until last night. Those little things were so ugly. The only truly attractive dogs they had there were a boxer puppy and a golden retriever. And they had a young kitten there with some of the grossest eyes I've ever seen. This wasn't a rescue they were showing off for adoption, this was for sale. Cute long-haired tabby, and so, so friendly, but those poor weepy little eyes and the oily, matted fur... I think I may be permanently traumatized.
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Dec 11, 2007 20:53
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Residue posted:Two questions about a three month old kitten. 1. A lot of cats who were separated from their mothers young do this. We had a cat who would only suckle on a specific blanket. You may never break him of the urge to do it, but pushing him off your lap and protesting might teach him it's not acceptable. 2. He's pretty young, so his bad behavior is probably baby craziness. Kittens are right bastards. Again, pushing him away and making an upset kitty sound will help teach him it's not nice.
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Dec 30, 2007 03:27
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Dru posted:What are the signs that I am underfeeding my cats? Not to be pedantic, but a male engaged person is a fiancé, and the female is fiancée. Anyway, as to your question, if your cats are beggars, it may be hard for your fiancé to realize they're not starving. If your male really is prone to fat (I don't know if I'd trust what the previous owner says, unless you absolutely know what they were feeding him and what kind of exercise and stimulation they were providing), you might not want to free-feed, which would be the easiest way to make sure they're getting enough. Depending on the age of the kittens, if you're feeding adult food that may not be quite enough nutrition for them, but you may have problems with your older male eating the kitten food (which might be more likely to make him fat). If he's just eating when you fill the bowl, like a little off the top, get a larger bowl and fill it once, and he'll wolf down food when you first fill it and might leave it alone the rest of the day. This will let the younger cats browse. A way to know for sure, and put both your mind and that of their "daddy" at rest, is to take them all in for a well-cat visit to your veterinarian and talk to him/her about their nutrition. It's true that feeding a higher-quality food will usually make a cat eat less. Foods with less filler are more satisfying. If your cats are hungry but are getting enough food, consider switching treats to something healthy and decreasing their food ever so slightly. My mom found that this helped trim down my old cat, and her other cats love it. Or you could try feeding them something like romaine lettuce, which many cats like. It's high-bulk and has lots of fiber, but won't make your big boy fat, and it satisfies the feeling of an empty tummy. YMMV.
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Dec 30, 2007 20:30
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Frankly, Dru, sounds like time for a new vet.
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Dec 30, 2007 23:12
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Pineapple posted:I don't know about the legality, but providing a proper habitat and diet would be difficult unless you're quite flush and can build a dedicated pool with rockwork etc. And I don't think you can really keep them solitarily as they're very social birds. It's my understanding that in some countries the Blue Fairy Penguin, which is a cute little bugger, can be kept as a pet. Sounds impossibly difficult to me, but they're friggin adorable.
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Dec 31, 2007 19:57
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noelcat posted:I have a question about my fatty cat. Is she a good jumper? Many fat cats are not, and you can use that to your advantage - feed the skinny cat somewhere too high for her to reach easily. Even if she does make it up to pig out, she's getting more exercise doing it.
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Jan 5, 2008 18:52
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notsoape posted:Is it likely that I would be able to trust a saluki firmly enough on a recall to allow him/her to run and course rabbits on the property freely (under supervision, obviously)? Or would it be more likely that I'd have to keep him/her on lead in that environment? The greyhound rescue people I was in contact with for a long time seemed to think that no sighthound could be so well-trained that he/she would return to you rather than chase something. But if your property is fenced, I'd say go for it, mostly because I think that would be awesome. Not an expert by any means, though. The DVangels have experience with Afghans, which are supposedly very closely related and/or derived from the Saluki. Supposedly. They may be able to offer some insight. quote:How do you imagine a sighthound would deal with interacting with a large group of boisterous beagles on a daily basis? I realise this may be a tricky one to anticipate! The greyhounds I've met seemed totally disinterested in any dog that was not another greyhound, but that may have more to do with their socialization than a breed trait. In medieval times, hunters ran "running-dogs," which were much like today's foxhounds, in the same packs as sighthounds. Harriers were also being developed at the time, and were kenneled with the lymers (kind of like bloodhounds), greyhounds, and small breeds like terriers and spaniels. Given the history, I think it's not unreasonable to expect a sighthound to function well with a beagle pack. You may find that your Saluki is kind of aloof from the beagles - a lot of sighthounds have a reputation for being indifferent to what would normally excite other breeds.
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Jan 16, 2008 18:10
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notsoape posted:I think an overly sensitive dog could be quite traumatised by the 'swarm' of beagles - though I guess it would depend a fair amount on the individual Saluki and how we orchestrated the introductions If you get an adult dog through a breeder or rescue, they should be able to tell you about temperament. A dog-friendly dog, introduced to individual hounds or small groups, would probably work out really well. If you get a young Saluki, and it grows up around the pack, then I would think the issues would be minimal. You might want to consider dominance when selecting your dog, since there's more of a definite hierarchy in the beagle pack than in most households. A very dominant dog might have trouble adjusting to the existing hierarchy (and might be hard to train), while a very submissive dog would get walked all over by the pack. Definitely something to talk to the Saluki people about, though. I'm sure more than a few of the Saluki showers/breeders have successfully kept them with other dog breeds in their homes and kennels.
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Jan 18, 2008 00:00
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mr. nazi posted:How much "eye gunk" is normal for a cat, and what color should it be to be 'normal'? We had a kitten whose eyes were very weepy and had a lot of mucus, and the vet said it would probably never get better. Didn't seem to bother her. I'd have him looked at in case it's an infection of some kind, and maybe try and figure out if there's something in the house that's irritating his mucus membranes. If you eliminate all the serious causes, and he's not in any discomfort, you may just have a goopy cat.
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Jan 27, 2008 18:33
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Does your vacuum have a HEPA filter? Those help. A lot. We went to a friend's house last night, and they have three Italian Greyhounds. I'm not a fan of small dogs, but I also don't dislike them. Their male is about 8 or 9 years old and is much too large for the breed standard (~20 lbs), and their two females are 4 and 3 (I think) and are both too small for the breed standard. So you have an almost whippet-sized male and two tiny pocket females. The male has adrenal problems, so he's largely bald, which made his texture very interesting. The reason I usually dislike small dogs is that they don't act like dogs, but these little guys were very well-trained and obviously well cared-for. They were very bouncy and playful when you wanted to play, and extremely friendly, but knew when to sit down and be calm and just snuggle. One of the females was a licker, which isn't something that bothers me, but she was so enthusiastic about it! I really like full-sized greyhounds, and have wanted a retired racer for a long time. However, my boyfriend is more of a cat person, and likes somewhat smaller dogs. The IGs were somewhat catlike, too, and I could see he was kind of falling in love. The standard-sized ones are just so small, though! The big male was about the right size for me. I guess my question is, are whippets enough like IGs in terms of temperament that they would make a good compromise? It was great watching the little Italians running around and playing. They go into a full double-suspension gallop with only a few feet of acceleration, and they seem to be on springs - the youngest and smallest female would race full-speed up to you and bounce off you with all four feet. I'm not ready to get a dog right now at all, but I'm trying to compile a nice list of pros and cons. My two favorites are definitely sighthounds and schnauzers, though I understand they are very different in terms of needs and temperament. I know we have a one-eyed wonder whippet on the forum. Any whippet/IG people feel like weighing in?
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Jan 27, 2008 20:47
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MoCookies posted:Iggies are notorious for being hard to impossible to housetrain. That's a pretty big con, in my opinion. It was enough to turn me off of the breed when I was considering them, since I was an apartment dweller at the time. I definitely have a soft spot for sighthounds though, and once I get the go-ahead to get another dog, it'll probably be a needlenose of some sort. They said their girls were hard to housetrain because they're so small, and that all of them were normal puppies in terms of having accidents from time to time. The way I understand it they have had very few problems since growing past pupphyood. I guess it would depend on the individual dog, and I would think a larger individual (like the oversize IG, or a whippet) would have fewer problems with that.
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Jan 27, 2008 21:21
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You don't need another mouse if you have a male. They're much more solitary than females. As long as he has plenty of stimulation (exercise wheel, chew toys, maybe even hiding his food and making him hunt for it) he shouldn't be terribly lonely. What is he building his nest of? You could try giving him scraps of fabric and letting him build a nest of that, and you can machine wash them and just give him a new piece when you clean the cage. If he has a little "house" you can stuff it in there or let him drag it in there to form a nest. If he doesn't have a "house" in the cage, you should think about getting one. That way even when you clear out his nest he has a place to hide. What's your setup like? I've kept mice a few times in my life, they can be wonderful pets.
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Feb 3, 2008 00:24
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BiohazrD posted:It's mostly shavings and toilet paper he has shredded. I could easily give him some cloth, I just wanted to make sure he wouldn't get pissed at having to remake a nest a lot. What kind of shavings are you using? Some wood shavings are bad for them. They seem to enjoy making their nests, I wouldn't worry about it pissing him off.
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Feb 3, 2008 00:49
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Okay, here's my animal question that doesn't deserve its own thread: Should I be upset at my friend who wants to try and breed his chinchilla? This person used to be the most irresponsible human being I knew, I haven't spent much time around him lately, maybe he's improved. I don't even know where to begin. Is it okay to post the chat log? If not, I can delete it. But it's just easier this way.  : im trying to get my chinchilla to screw my bosses chinchilla and have babies haha : they like eachother but they wont do the nasty yet : Why on Earth would you do that? : Do you know how hard it is to raise newborn anything? : chinchillas are easy, we looked it up researched it for a month before we decided to do it : the mother chinchilla does all the work : she only has one or two kits : And what if there's a problem in the birthing process? You prepared to lose all the kits and the mother? : its not that common, as long as theyre in a clean environment and you keep her away from sand baths shell be fine shes old enough and developed enough to handle it, everyone who breeds has to start somewhere : I just don't see the need for more breeding, I guess. : You have homes lined up already? : yeah : i plan on keeping one if there are two and someone at work who has plenty of rodents wants one : has had*I don't know, PI. I don't think I'd let this guy look after a pet rock for more than a weekend, and now he wants to breed exotics? His is the male, his boss' is the female. It just kind of rankles me.
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Feb 6, 2008 21:34
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So my chronically overweight cat who lives with my mother has gotten really thin fairly quickly and has become incontinent. Her fur is a mess, she cries a lot more (though that may be because I don't see her often and she misses me), and my sister says you can feel her ribs and organs through her skin. My mom and stepdad feed Purina Cat Chow and liberally give treats (not sure the brand). Since the cat stopped being reliable with the litterbox, they shoved her outside all the time. My sister says she is looking worse, which my mother denies. Mom says "She's just getting long in the tooth," which I think is ridiculous - that cat is only 9 years old. They refused to take her in when the peeing started, and she's been outside for about a year now. I have offered to pay for vet care, and Mom has blown me off. The other day I got very insistent and her defense was "You've never offered to pay for it, and we couldn't afford to take her to the vet." Which is bullshit. I worry that even if they take her in, they'll insist nothing's wrong and won't let the vet do much more than a standard exam. I doubt they'll outline her symptoms, mention that she's not up-to-date on vaccinations, or bother with any tests beyond the usual stuff you'd do for a well cat. I cannot take the cat. Simply cannot. Especially because she is unreliable with the litterbox. There's no guarantee that a vet visit would yield a treatment for what's causing the urination outside the box. We have wall-to-wall carpets and an older male cat who doesn't like other cats. She's sure to be full of parasites from being outside. I live two hours away. Should I drive down one weekend and kidnap her to the vet's office? Should I go have her put to sleep so she doesn't suffer anymore? I can't trust them to take care of her even if all she needs is an inexpensive pill or a change in food. They're basically waiting for her to die so they have no more responsibilities. What should I do here? From what Rachel says, it's gotten pretty bad. Mom denies it up and down. I'm in a bad spot.
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Feb 24, 2008 05:22
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I showed a recent photo of my cat back home to a coworker who used to work in a vet clinic. He mentioned that her appearance was pretty consistent with FIV in a fairly advanced stage  He also said that the sudden weight loss could be a serious parasite infestation, which would make sense with her being shoved outside 24/7. My mom is still hemming and hawing about taking her in. I may drive down to Richmond this week while I'm off (finished my job today, start my new job March 3rd) and take her in to one of the local vet clinics myself. It's a two-hour drive, not too serious. If it does turn out to be FIV/FeLuke/something equally nasty, I definitely can't bring her back here to my house - I couldn't risk exposing Charlie. And I know they won't bother with the care she would need to manage the disease. So if the tests come in positive, I'll be putting her down. It makes me so angry...
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Feb 25, 2008 01:09
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Not Impressed posted:For reference, Nibbler is 2.5 years old and a sassy calico. Her potential buddy is a young adult female tortie that is also described as playful, loving and spunky. Oh dear god, a tortie and a calico in the same house? Do you know what kinds of insanity they'll get up to?
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Feb 26, 2008 23:29
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asteroceras posted:About 3 months ago I saw a rodent I had never seen before at the UK store "Pets at Home", but I do not recall the name and cannot find it anywhere on the web. [and I no longer live anywhere near this pet store or any other] Gerbils, perhaps? They're pretty friendly, are somewhat ratlike, and from what I've heard are pretty social. Did they tend to sit upright a lot, and had kind of a kangaroo-rat appearance, with long furry tails? GIS results:   And so on. I like the little black ones especially. Never had any of my own, but everyone I know who's had gerbils has raved about how sweet and curious and funny they are.
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Feb 28, 2008 22:48
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Braki posted:I was lying in bed studying, and my cat was lying next to the bed in his cat bed. I suddenly started hearing this really weird sound... at first I thought maybe it was someone in the next room and the sound was coming through the wall, until I realized no one was in the next room. I looked down, and it was my cat. He had his tongue sticking out slightly and was making this really strange "heeunh" sound every 1-2 seconds. I called his name, and he looked up at me, but he kept making that sound. I got really scared and started leaving to open my door so I could wake up my brother, and then he stopped. This happened maybe five minutes ago, and he hasn't done it again, and doesn't seem to act out of the ordinary, although I have noticed that he seems more skittish today than usual. It really scared the poo poo out of me, but I'm not sure if it's something really serious or if it was just some odd one-time occurrence. Does anyone know what it could have been? Two possibilities spring immediately to mind: hairball, or object/mucus in the lungs. Some cats don't "cough" as noticeably as others, which is why I mention the latter. It is most likely a hairball, and he might be more skittish because he's uncomfortable. Has he had a bowel movement today? Has he spit up anything, either bile (foamy liquid, ranges clear to yellow depending on what else is in his stomach) or hair clots? If it's a hairball, the best thing you can do for him is to give him some Petromalt. I know there are home remedies that will work in a pinch (our friend uses Vaseline because her cat likes the taste, others have mentioned vegetable or olive oil), but we use the "real" thing. Sometimes it will help ease their discomfort to gently palpate their abdomen, almost like giving a gentle massage in the stomach area. If the cat protests this at all, stop. But many times when one of my kitties has spit up or is trying to clear a hairball, a gentle rub on the tummy seems to alleviate some of the unpleasantness.
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Mar 6, 2008 18:15
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Braki posted:I don't know if it's a hairball. He's short hair, and in the two years I've had him, he's never had a hairball. He hasn't spit up anything. Some cats almost never have hairballs, others have them all the time. Hair length doesn't make as much difference as you'd think. He also may have eaten something that disagreed with him, or just eaten his regular food too fast and gotten a lot of air in his stomach. If it doesn't become a everyday thing, I don't think I'd worry about it too much. Still, putting him on a regular dose of Petromalt might not be a bad idea.
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Mar 7, 2008 01:51
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maplecheese posted:Fundamentally, those people are spending money to have someone hurt their animal in order to make it look cooler. I think if it's done under anesthesia it's not cruel. The aftercare on a tattoo isn't particularly painful, mostly just itchy. As long as the owner is committed to healing the tattoo properly, taking care of it like he would his own, I don't think it's an inherently bad thing. It's still stupid, in my opinion, but not a cruelty issue. quote:With the kind of attitude that allows that, I seriously doubt that they are awesome pet owners the rest of the time. I think that's kind of a strong assumption. But hey, who knows. I don't know anyone, even hardcore tattoo people, who would do it.
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Mar 9, 2008 18:58
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Lien posted:I know there have been a bunch of threads on integrating cats, and I'm trying to follow the advice that I've picked up so far. Did you try the Feliway stuff? A lot of PIers have had good results with that. I've only ever integrated kittens with adult cats, and it's a little bit of a different dynamic. But we used to put towels down in the new cat's room (usually our large bathroom) and let him/her sleep on them for a few days, then put them somewhere the adult cat(s) like to sleep. I don't know if it would help, since she already smells him and knows he's there.
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Mar 12, 2008 16:10
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We did the "seed litter" thing with Charlie in the new townhouse, and he didn't have a single incident after the move. We weren't changing box types, just adding another box and moving them into a new space. He still won't use the cat flap that the previous tenants had installed in the storage closet, which is where his downstairs box is, but we unscrewed the flap and just left the hole and he uses both boxes regularly. With other cats in the past, we've switched from a regular pan to a covered by just placing the covered box in the same spot where the pan was. But if you want to be safe and avoid any accidents, putting both boxes out for a little while is not a bad idea.
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Mar 13, 2008 19:44
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I so wish I'd had a camera last night. We went to Petco to visit the adoption kitties, including an absolutely gorgeous little Siamese girl who apparently had come from a breeder who went bankrupt. What a talker! Not as much as Charlie, but still. If anybody is looking for a sweet, chatty, beautiful blue-point Siamese female in the Northern Virginia area, Sahara over at the Fairfax Petco is a real doll. Anyway, we had some time to kill, so we went over to play with the ferrets. Right next to their cage was one of the big plexi presentation cages, with a couple of chinchillas inside. The smaller, lighter-colored one was totally calm until I walked up. Then he/she went on a pinball run, bing-bing-bing-bing off the sides of the cage, and then was suddenly gone inside one of the houses. This was repeated several times. I knew chins were bouncy, but it was so ridiculous and funny, and over so quickly... Is this just a chinchilla version of the zoomies? Do they do that naturally? Or is it a boredom thing from being understimulated? I could understand them being bored in their store cage, with no toys or anything. I felt bad for the gerbils, who had resorted to gnawing on their metal wheel stand because there was nothing chewable in the tank.
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Mar 18, 2008 14:27
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baby_starfish posted:Anyone have any ideas? My stepsister's longhaired cat loves to splash in his water bowl, and since he has big furry feet it gets all over and he tracks it into the next room and such. I'd just put a mat under the water dish and try to discourage her from playing in it too much. If she likes it, that may be a good thing for you - when bathtime comes around, which it does sometimes when kitties get dirty, she may enjoy her bath instead of fighting you tooth and nail.
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Mar 24, 2008 02:05
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Lacuna posted:My question is: Am I justified in making these freeloading jerks into a fur coat? A lot of domestic cats have relatively poor predation abilities, I've noticed. The good mousers are more the exception than the rule. Besides, you don't really want your cats killing and eating rodents. Generally eating a mouse will make a lot of cats vomit, and it could have nasty chemicals built up in its body or other grossness. quote:Edit: Also, which type of mouse trap should I look for to minimize the stupidity factor of my cats getting into it and hurting themselves? If you want to trap-and-release, a Havahart trap in the appropriate size presents no danger to your cats. Snap-traps will possibly endanger your kitties, and can be inhumane if the mouse's neck isn't broken. Victor makes an electronic mousetrap that shocks the mouse inside a little tunnel, and the dangerous component shouldn't be accessible to your cats - I've never used them personally. Good luck with your pest.
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Mar 28, 2008 13:47
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Especially since two of them are currently absorbed in "killing" their toy mice instead of, you know, ridding my basement of this evil pest so I can sleep tonight.
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sucks to ur assmar posted:I said recessive... I think what maplecheese is saying is that you could have two parents with the dominant good-hunter gene and still have a bad hunter. Hh+Hh= HH or Hh or Hh or hh (H being good, h being bad) So their offspring would have a 25% chance of being bad mousers, a 25% chance of being homozygous good mousers, and a 50% chance of being heterozygous good mousers with the possibility of passing on either good our bad hunting ability. Two recessive parents, on the other hand (H being bad, h being good): hh + hh = hh 100% chance of being genetically good mousers. I doubt it's purely genetic, though. It seems like more of a learned behavior, and even a good hunter might not teach her offspring to hunt, depending on how long they're with her and what the situation is (i.e. indoor/outdoor mama cat is kept inside until kittens are rehomed, doesn't have anything to teach them on).
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Mar 28, 2008 16:34
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Jive One posted:By their nature Great Pyrenees are gentle dogs, but of course those at a rescue may have had a less than perfect upbringing. It will vary with the individual dog of course, but for the most part, assuming it wasn't abused, would a breed such as this retain its sweet temperment even without formal obedience training? There are certainly PI goons who know more about both rescue and Pyrs than I do, but if you go online to Petfinder you will find a lot of large breed dogs up for adoption. A lot of breeds that have high energy requirements (collies, shepherds) or grow up to be very big get dumped by their owners because they're too much trouble or just aren't cute anymore. I bet you could find a young-ish dog that was a surrender and doesn't have a history of abuse or anything. It might even have obedience training and such, especially if the previous owners tried to keep it but still had to surrender it due to its size or needs.
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Apr 1, 2008 21:12
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Lipids posted:I recently purchased a female brown teddy bear hamster. She is very friendly, she walks out into my hands if I want to hold her and "play" with her. Hamsters, like a lot of small rodents, have teeth that continue to grow throughout their lives. Their natural inclination is to gnaw on things to keep their teeth a safe and useful length. If you're not providing her with enough chews, she will do what she can to maintain her teeth. Get her some wood blocks, whole nuts, etc. to chew on. My rat likes bones for this, but hamsters are herbivores. Find something she likes to gnaw on. If her teeth continue to grow unabated, they can cause her serious problems.
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Apr 2, 2008 03:27
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Betty Coltrane posted:My question is, is there any consensus on how cats should be fed? All dry? All wet? Alternating? Mixing the two together? I think for the most part vets and owners have decided that a mixture of dry and wet works really well. We free-feed dry food and put wet down once a day (mixed with canned pumpkin, since Charlie has a history of constipation). If we don't give the wet food, Charlie has a tendency to have more trouble with his digestion, but feeding all wet is likely to give him nasty teeth. It's my understanding that as long as you're making sure he gets enough liquid (some cats don't really like to drink water, and prefer wet foods to get their water), and that his teeth are in good condition, there's no reason you couldn't be able to exclusively feed one or the other. But a lot of cats really like free-feeding, and you can't exactly do that with wet. And on the other side, they really enjoy the wet food, so feeding all dry is kind of boring for them.
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Apr 16, 2008 20:52
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Dr. Housecat MD posted:I have two Petmate fountains, and I'm not a really big fan of them. They're a pain in the rear end to clean up, and I don't think my cats care that much for them. I want to try a Drinkwell fountain, as those actually have water falling from a spout into a bowl, rather than running down a ramp like the Petmate. I think the sound and positioning of the water in the Drinkwell is more attractive to some animals, but I haven't actually used one. It seems to be more like drinking out of a faucet, if that's something your cats are attracted to. Our Petmate's motor died a little while ago (no idea how long Steve had had it), and we went out and got a Drinkwell. Charlie likes it a lot better, it's definitely easier to clean, it doesn't have the awkwardness with the reservoir tank and such. My only issue is it's pretty noisy, but that wasn't really a problem once I got used to it. The big thing is that the sound of it made me think it was running low, since it resembled the gurgling noise the Petmate would make if it was nearing empty. But Charlie definitely drinks out of it more than he did his Petmate.
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Apr 27, 2008 21:29
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My friend just posted on her livejournal that her mom brought her home a surprise puppy from a trip to Ohio. It's a basset hound, and it's only six weeks old. Did I mention this friend is chronically depressed, spends all her time at her boyfriend's house or at work, abuses alcohol and drugs, and already has two ferrets? Nothing about this seems like a good idea. Edit: There's no question there, I just needed a sympathetic place to sigh about this.
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Apr 29, 2008 23:33
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I think I'm in love with a blue brindle pit mix. We can't really have a dog right now, between the existing animals, our lifestyle, and where we live. But that doesn't stop me from giving my heart away at adoption fairs. Saturday we went to pick up some Carefresh for van Buren, and the Lost Dog and Cat Rescue Foundation was there with some wonderful dogs. A number of times I've gone to these events and met someone I so badly wanted to take home. At one point I was near tears because I couldn't take Petey the spitz mix home with me, but I was glad to see that two weeks later he found a great home. The dog in question is Duncan. You can check him out for yourself on their adoption page. I met him inside the store and he was just the perfect gentleman. He's an older boy, about 10, and the volunteer said he has a heart murmur. He's a beautiful color, has a big wide goofy head, and his manners were impeccable. The photos don't do justice to him. I want to donate some money to them for his cardiology exam, which will run them about $500. I'm wondering what an appropriate sum would be. I'm not wealthy or anything, but I could comfortably give $50. I'm wondering if I should earmark the money for Duncan specifically, or just make a general donation? I really liked this dog, and this is all I can do for him. They're an awesome rescue. Maybe I'll put a note that I want it to go to Duncan and any extra should go back into the rescue. Hmm...
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Apr 30, 2008 16:52
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alucinor posted:They would love that, trust me. ANY amount, ANY earmark. I sent fifty dollars in his name and I emailed his foster mom to ask if she had any better pictures of him. The ones on the site aren't flattering, and he's so pretty  I told her I wanted to show him off and see if any of my friends knew someone who wanted him. I'll probably pimp him out here as well, if she sends me anything, just because he was beautiful and sweet and deserves to be shown off. Man, if I didn't have a rat and a cat and live in a townhouse, Duncan would have come home with me on Saturday. He was absolutely a doll. And at his age, and with the heart condition, I worry he won't find a home. So hey, if anyone knows somebody in the Northern Virginia/DC area who would love to have an older blue brindle bulldog/pit mix with a gentle soul and a big goofy face, let me know. He has very good manners and is crate-trained, but has some food aggression issues towards other dogs that they say are improving. One of these days I'll be able to go to one of these fairs and come home with a new friend. I look greatly forward to it.
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May 1, 2008 21:06
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MsJoelBoxer posted:First of all, after I made the appointment, I read some iffy reviews of the hospital (Alexandria Animal Hospital in Alexandria, VA) online and that made me a little nervous. If anyone knows anything about them, I'd be interested in your experiences. You should call my vet. I don't know what they charge for neuters, but their prices overall are very reasonable and they have treated us fantastically. They're right by Fair Oaks Mall in Fairfax, so not far from you. The clinic is impeccably run, the techs are awesome, they have a large staff of doctors, and they have a designated floor in the building for surgeries. They're the Pender Veterinary Clinic at 703.591.3304. I can say nothing bad about them.
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May 2, 2008 20:20
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Lioness posted:Some cats DO NOT want or need a playmate and are better off alone. Seconded. Charlie hates other cats and thinks he's a people. He lived with another cat some years ago, and neither of them was terribly happy during that time. When they were split up both cats became much friendlier and more personable. I wish it wasn't so. I would love to have another cat, especially since Charlie is so strongly bonded to his daddy and will never really be "my" cat. HyperGlitter, I wouldn't tempt fate with it. Charlie just gets sullen and pissy around other cats. Your cat sounds like she could seriously hurt a new kitty.
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May 8, 2008 01:50
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Ugh. Apparently one of my mom's other neglected cats is starting to get really sick. My sister can't convince her to take it to the vet, and my stepfather apparently thinks I killed my cat unnecessarily, so I don't know how much they'll listen to me. I'm going to talk to my mom today and try to convince her to take the animal in, warn her that she's committing a crime by neglecting the cat, and tell her if she doesn't take it in I will be calling Animal Control. I hate to do this, but she's left me no real choice. That poor animal is in nearly as much misery as my cat was, and they are ignoring him. Sigh.
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May 9, 2008 22:00
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Well, I didn't have to call Animal Control on my own mother, thank God. As far as I can gather, they took Don in, found out he had environmental allergies, and got him some medicine. I'm trying to convince her to bring him inside more of the time. I'm still reeling a little from the tongue-lashing she gave me when I confronted her about it last week. I'm hoping she was just stressed out, and doesn't genuinely believe the things she said - she basically told me that animals aren't important, and that she isn't responsible for pets she no longer wants, and that I can't give her a hard time about animal cruelty or morals because I'm breaking decency laws by living with someone out of wedlock and that's just as reprehensible as letting a cat suffer. Sometimes I wonder where I came from. 
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May 14, 2008 19:11
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