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randomity posted:I hate to tell this to people because it really freaks them out, but it's a mating response. You're turning your cat on by stroking it on the back. It's called "lordosis behavior." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lordosis_behavior That article also says it's part of a reflex arc, which means that you could be eliciting that response without the accompanying hormonal interactions as I understand it, which would explain why males and spayed females exhibit the same behavior.
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Dec 13, 2007 03:14
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notsoape posted:Could you ask to restrain Wrigley yourself, in future? My dog gets pretty agitated at the vets and basically clings onto me for reassurance while she gets her jabs, temperature taken etc. Obviously there have been times when she's needed anaesthetic and so on where I haven't been present, but for the most part I'm able to give her cuddles and calm her down for minor procedures. Same goes for the beagles and cats. If he's usually calm when you restrain him, then it would be appropriate for you to do so at the vets, surely? In a word, no. In this country's current environment of lawsuits and people not taking accountability for their own actions, it's a huge liability to let an inexperienced person handle an animal for things like vaccinations and such, even if it's their own pet. Not every pet reacts the same way to these things and a dog who is "just so sweet" at home may turn into a fear-biter when presented with a thermometer or syringe. And cats are especially susceptible to redirected aggression to the person trying to restrain them, and if it is an owner who is inexperienced that can turn bad quick. Housecat is right, you have to tailor it to the specific animal. Some animals DO need very tight, secure restraint (especially a lot of cats) or else they realize they can physically "win" and the situation escalates to someone getting bitten or scratched. Others do a lot better with less restraint. Some are complete hellions when the owner is in the room with them but angels once you get them separated, others are the opposite. I don't think it's fair to say that every single animal should be treated the same way whether it's a lot of restraint or little restraint.
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Jan 12, 2008 22:07
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notsoape posted:Ah, interesting. What about in agricultural situations? Over here farmers/staff are frequently roped in (sometimes literally!) to assist the vet with procedures, especially difficult calvings and foalings and so on. Do the farm hands qualify as experienced enough to lend a hand, or do the vets still work with professional assistants? I couldn't tell ya about farm vets. I've only worked at primarily small animal clinics. I'd imagine that farm-hands would probably be fine for that though as they're a little more animal-savvy than your average peke-a-poo owner. The very few house-calls for horse euthanasias and calvings I've witnessed they've taken an assistant (ie me) but the farm-hands have also helped out as well.
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Jan 12, 2008 22:27
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dispute posted:My gf & I just got a 6 week old kitten and all she does all day is follow my dog around trying to suck on his penis. this might actually be the worst post I've ever seen in Pet Island
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Jan 19, 2008 09:36
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notsoape posted:A question though; how does the point system work with rare breeds? Is it more difficult to get a CH. title with an otterhound than a lab simply because there aren't enough otterhounds around for you to win over? I don't show dogs myself but I do know that the point scale is adjusted to try to compensate a little bit for this. A 5 point win for an otterhound is over a lot less dogs than a 5 point win for a lab, in my understanding.
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Feb 3, 2008 09:18
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drat Bananas posted:My first instinct was to call her an idiot, because of the puggle for example: comes from a dog bred for running, and a dog bred for squashed nose which is just asking for problems. But then I realized that I really don't know much about dog breeding. Is she right that inbreeding occurs? If so, how far back in the lines do they go before they decide it's okay to inbreed? Well yeah, inbreeding occured and still occurs in purebred dogs. It is really the only way to establish a consistent phenotype when a breed is still in its infancy, and many dogs today are bred with relatives in order to enhance attributes of common ancestors in their line. Granted, most breeders don't breed brother-sister or parent-offspring but it does occur sometimes. Usually the animals have a common ancestor a couple generations back at the earliest. Breeders call this "linebreeding" rather than "inbreeding" to make it sound more palatable. Now, a first generation cross such as a puggle isn't really a good example of dogs being healthier because of mixed-breed heritage - both of its parents are purebred! However, a mutt you pick up from the shelter can be less likely to have problems such as hip dysplasia and such that often come along with purebred dogs. That's no guarantee and PI has seen at least one mutt from the street (Papaya's Apple) who ended up with severe hip dysplasia, but as a whole things like that are more common in purebreds, especially those from unscrupulous breeders who don't do health testing.
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Feb 17, 2008 21:27
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Waddley Hasselhoff posted:Hay guys They're a BYB. They don't appear to do anything with their dogs except for a few cursory mentions of "maybe we'll show this dog" for a couple of the males. They don't do any genetic health testing. I'd keep looking. A good place to start is the Dachshund Club of America website. There's a list of breeders there and I'm sure they can refer you to others if none are local.
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Feb 25, 2008 23:58
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Noonsaliwah posted:Then some people say "well it's never bothered any pet I've seen" and some people say 'all tattooed pets go crazy and hate humans" (while I think it might be more 'people who want to tattoo skulls on their pets raise crazy pets"). I dunno what the informed opinion is, because I can't find a link I trust that discusses it properly. I work at a research cat colony with nearly a thousand cats. Each kitten has its ears tattooed between 6-10 weeks of age for identification purposes. In the right ear goes the year they were born and in the left ear a number incrementing by one for each kitten born, starting at 001 each year. They get over it after about 3 minutes and then don't care anymore. We have some cats who hate people but we also have some cats who will try to jump/climb up into your arms and rub all over you if you go into the group cages with them. I highly doubt the ear tattoos have anything to do with either attitude. As far as vaccinations go, for the earlier discussion - many vaccines do last longer than what they're labeled for, but it's hard to tell without doing titers as MoCookies pointed out. And the problem with titers is that we don't really know what constitutes protective immunity a lot of times. There are distemper vaccines that are labeled for three year use though. And actually Infinite Might, the intranasal bordetella should really be done every six months for maximum effectiveness. Nobody really does it in practice though. Sekhmet fucked around with this message at 19:08 on Mar 9, 2008 |
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Mar 9, 2008 19:01
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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? I adopted a 4-5 year old Great Pyrenees from the Sierra Pacific Great Pyrenees Club rescue almost 6 months ago. Now, keep in mind that I selected a "difficult" dog in the first place, one who had been in rescue for 2 years because he is dominant and male dog aggressive. That said, I don't know where you are getting "easy to train" out of a Pyr - they are super stubborn and due to their purpose as livestock guardian dogs they don't really have much of a drive to please you. They were bred to be independent thinkers and any breed like that requires a pretty firm hand and rigid rules in training. With that philosophy (using NILIF and not allowing him to push the boundaries) my dog is easy to handle for the most part. He still has things that need to be worked on, even after 6 months, but he is an enjoyable and obedient pet most of the time. You won't ever be able to walk a Pyr off leash or expect his butt to hit the ground the second you say "sit." You just have to be more stubborn than the dog and have an ounce of patience. He'll sit eventually, on his own terms, it just might take a couple of seconds. quote:These breeds have a very low heat tolerance. Can anyone who has had experience with a cold-climate dog give an indication as to how long walks should be in typical summer weather(70-90 degrees)? I'm thinking a slow walk for 30 minutes wouldn't be too bad in 70 degree weather, but there's no way I'm going to even approach the threshold with how dangerous heat stroke can be. Still, exercise is important for a healthy dog so I don't want to keep the dog constantly indoors either. It gets much, much hotter than that in the summer here, and a lot of people in my area have these dogs and work with them during the summer. Just take cues from the dog as to when he's had enough and talk to the rescue about it before you decide on a dog. They will know how to answer this question in your specific area for your climate. quote:Hopefully someone here has some experience with these dogs in at least some capacity. I'm well aware of the expense of food and the constant shedding and drooling, but these are things I'm happy to accept. Actually, Sam does not drool at all. He is a bit of a messy drinker, but the rest of the day there is no drool. And he doesn't really eat a lot either. We feed Solid Gold Barking at the Moon and if there is more than 3.5 cups in the bowl he will not finish it. The shedding though, oh man the shedding. I recommend investing in a very good top of the line vacuum cleaner - you will NEED it!
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Apr 2, 2008 18:06
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Colonel Whitey posted:So this is probably a pretty common question in this forum, but I couldn't find an answer in the FAQ... Honestly? The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Pet Island > PET ISLAND FAQ or MY CAT PEES EVERYWHERE HELP [updated 03/22/2008] THE FAQ posted:MY CAT IS PEEING EVERYWHERE AND I WANT TO TELL THE INTERNET ABOUT IT
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Apr 11, 2008 07:14
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little green jewel posted:I feel pretty terrible about this whole thing. They were only for three days before they were offered up for adoption, which seems a little short to me. With such young puppies and an actual epidemic of this virus sweeping through our local kennels and shelters (ain't hindsight a bitch?), you'd think they'd hold new dogs longer to be sure they're not, say, incubating anything deadly and highly contagious. But that could be unreasonable of me. I've never worked or volunteered at a shelter, so what do I know. With a crowded shelter they may not have longer than that to hold dogs. There is a limit to the number of dogs you can have at any given time, and if they want to save as many as possible they need to keep the dogs going through pretty quickly. Also it's just as likely that they picked up the virus at the shelter itself, rather than being infected already when they got there. It's a tough thing to deal with, but it happens sometimes. Sorry about your pups, hope they pull through.
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Apr 13, 2008 21:51
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Aimbot posted:What breed is this? yellow dog AKA mutt from your local shelter. Go look for yourself!
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Apr 18, 2008 01:37
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nationalism posted:How soon after birth can I declaw my cat? Many vets will do a declaw with the spay/neuter surgery if you ask for it.
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Apr 26, 2008 21:12
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sucks to ur assmar posted:...I'm assuming you mean ex-pen, not crate? Otherwise I'm not quite sure what you mean. I think he means the dog lifted his leg and aimed the piss out of the side of the crate. Why are you confused? Now I'm confused. 
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May 1, 2008 17:14
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cramps posted:I found a stray cat and absolutely can't keep him here, we already have two and the landlord says that's all he'll allow. Do you generally have to pay to take strays to a shelter? It's not a problem if I do, I'm just curious. He's living in the basement until we get him taken care of, so he's warm and well cared for, but isolated from our cats because I'm paranoid about strange kitties getting my boys sick. You're doing the right thing keeping him separated from your own cats. The way I've seemed to notice it, high-volume municipal shelters and the like don't charge you to take in an animal whereas "no-kill" limited access ones might. So it largely depends on where you decide to take him.
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May 4, 2008 17:50
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100 Years in Iraq posted:Municipal shelters don't charge to pick up strays; that's why they are there. Depending on where you live, humane societies and private shelters won't accept strays at all and deal only with owner-released animals. Actually the limited access private shelter where I worked only took in strays and did not take owner relinquishments at all. 
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May 5, 2008 01:14
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Women's Rights? posted:In my experience, it's pretty rare to have two cats who despise each other to the point of one being a real danger to the other. As your cat was a former stray, there's a chance that she might have a *slight* increase in pissiness towards the new cat, but that's about it. The worst I've seen is two cats who end up being more or less indifferent towards each other, and at best they become snuggle buddies. You should always take care in introducing new pets, of course, but honestly it's always worth it to get your kitty a friend. The chances that she'll completely and utterly hate the new addition and try to hurt them are pretty low. I can vouch for the part I'm bolding being absolutely 100% not true. My cat exhibited the same behaviors when she saw another cat outside, puffing up, throwing herself at the door and growl/yowling at the top of her lungs at it. We called it the "kitty show." And she backed it up too. When I was in college, I found a cat and brought it home to where she still lived with my mom for the summer. The intention was to try to introduce them slowly, but I put the carrier down with the other cat in it first, so I could go outside and get the rest of my stuff, and when I came back she was basically STUCK to the carrier like white on rice, trying to get at the cat inside of it, hissing and yowling up a storm. I was finally able to pry her off and I put the carrier inside my bedroom. The little brat almost ended up chewing a hole in the door trying to get at him, and that was just in one day. We tried to just keep them separated, but she would throw herself at the door and even started marking at the edge of it because she knew there was a cat on the other side. Once he actually got out of the room, then poo poo really hit the fan. Basically she gave chase, and it was like a tornado around the room, and when she caught him she went for the throat. I grabbed a slip lead that I had and basically choked her off of him. We ended up rehoming him. Both animals were neutered. The male was super sweet and friendly to cats and people, not acting dominant at all. Some cats DO NOT want or need a playmate and are better off alone.
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May 8, 2008 01:31
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Look, the long and short of it is that while r/d or whatever they were trying to push on you for the weight are not necessary, if your cat has recurrent urinary problems you should put him on one of the prescription diets. Just as you said, you don't know better than the vet. Urinary tract problems and crystals are not something you should mess with, especially in male cats. I don't care if every single ingredient in the loving c/d or s/d is some permutation of corn husks or pig assholes, it's been proven to work in reducing urinary problems in cats who are prone to them and that is good enough for me. If you don't trust your vet, you should go to a different one. You said you would be willing to go to that other vet who yours referred you to who is 40 minutes away, so what's stopping you from finding another in that range? And what exactly is stopping you from going to the referral vet anyway? Nobody can tell you where to take your pet, and whatever bullshit agreement they have cannot restrict your personal freedom to take your pets wherever you please. If it's an emergency clinic that isn't a normal day practice that's a different story, but if they have their own clients that they see and you trusted their opinion and liked them, then just go there.
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May 12, 2008 01:00
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Kusaru posted:This happened at my store recently with the new Merrick Before Grain. the 1 LB bags are $2.50, the 3.3 LB are around $11. I'm hoping this is just an introductory sort of thing, because I hate having to stock so many of those tiny bags, and lowering the price of the larger bags just isn't feasible. I saw this today. I bought one of the $2.50 bags and it actually has a coupon on the side of it for $2.50 off a larger bag as well. Could probably just totally stock up on those and be set with coupons for the bigger ones for if/when it does end if it is only introductory.
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Jun 8, 2008 06:02
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This is why you should always ask your vet before medicating your pet. Do you realize that intestinal parasites have a life cycle, and while you are killing them at one stage, you may not be getting ones that are at a younger stage? Deworming medications should be given on a schedule, and you should talk to your vet about it before you do it.
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Jun 11, 2008 07:59
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You should go to the vet and get a full bloodwork panel + urinalysis run. There are other potential diagnoses for polydipsia than just diabetes.
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Jun 11, 2008 20:57
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-Atom- posted:Oh I have him scheduled for an appointment in a few weeks, I was just asking to see if what I've researched held any merit. Diabetes is not the only disease state associated with abnormal drinking habits. It's impossible to know which of the problems with polydipsia as a symptom it is without a full blood panel AND a urinalysis. If it were me, I'd try to get him in sooner than a few weeks, but that's just because I like to know these things.
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Jun 11, 2008 21:03
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-Atom- posted:Well this has been going on for a while, and by a while I mean like a year or more. I never really thought much of it and just figured he was just obsessed with water in his older age. In an older cat I'd think that renal insufficiency would be a more likely scenario than diabetes, honestly, especially since it's been going on for so long with no other symptoms that are visible to you. But like I said, you can't know if it's any of these things or nothing without the bloodwork, so there's really no point in researching it all now.
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Jun 11, 2008 21:10
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Jive One posted:This is also a possibility but I recall reading that many hound breeds are a bit slow in the intelligence area or at the least are stubborn when it comes to training and obedience. Quick, hide this thread from the DVangels before I have to hear more smug poo poo about Afghan Hounds and how their poo poo smells like roses and they will one day cure cancer!
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Jun 15, 2008 20:47
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Ain Paradisum posted:What is a completely safe dog flea collar or drop solution that will not harm a cat? You need to use Frontline, Advantage, Revolution or something else your vet would carry for your dog. Flea collars and poo poo you buy in the grocery store (Hartz especially) just do not work and most of it is indeed toxic to cats, and has even been known to harm dogs sometimes.
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Jun 24, 2008 18:57
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Cats piss and poo poo in litterboxes, dogs piss and poo poo outside.
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Jun 25, 2008 00:36
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sucks to ur assmar posted:Orange. Actually that's a pretty distinct color/pattern of red not really seen in DSH cats from what I can make out, but I'd need a picture with better lighting and such to be able to tell. As it is I'd also make the guess of Abyssinian if you know it's a purebred cat.
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Jun 28, 2008 18:20
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Crazedscot posted:Well gently caress, I actually just fed her some more grass from the same source, so I hope it's not that. I was reluctant to, but she seemed pretty desperate to get to it and I know cats eat grass to help with digestive issues, not that she ate that much of it in the end. She shows absolutely no interest whatsoever in "proper" cat grass, hence me feeding her regular stuff. Any idea if those cat grass pills some pet shops seem to stock are any good? I wouldn't be worried about trying to give her grass to eat. She doesn't actually need it and it doesn't really help anything.
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Jul 3, 2008 02:02
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KilGrey posted:My cat hates me. One of my two cats is like that with my boyfriend. I am the only person in Ridley's world as far as he is concerned. He sits on me on the couch and rolls around purring and drooling when I scratch his belly and grooms me. I think it's just a basic personality trait, honestly, that some cats are one-person cats, and Ridley happens to be one of them. We also have Nyx, who loves anyone and everyone, so he's placated by that, but Ridley cringes back when my boyfriend tries to pet him and does the squirmy thing when he picks him up. He also acts like this towards outside people, though. Is your cat indifferent towards strangers as well? If so, it just might be her personality and that's something you'll need to accept. I've chalked it up with Ridley to my having handled him very often from the day he was born, and nobody else really doing so as much, for what it's worth. And as for the situation of who's home more - my boyfriend does his graduate school research from home and I have a mostly full time job, so he's home all the time and I'm not so that's not a factor for us.
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Aug 2, 2008 04:48
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Are you sure that's a he?
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Aug 8, 2008 08:53
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Dr.Khron posted:Oh now I get it. On my monitor here at home, it looks like the kitten has some orange color mixed in. Which would suggest tortie, which suggests girl. You got it. I can't really discern the color that well (hint: better pics plz) and the cat might just be dirty, but it looks like possibly it could be a dilute torti.
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Aug 9, 2008 17:23
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Daddy Fantastic posted:Is rabies vaccine necessary for a purely indoors cat? If your cat bites someone at the vet's office or your house, you may (depending on the laws in your area) have to either do a very, very long and expensive quarantine period or euthanize the cat if it isn't vaccinated. So it's in everyone's best interest to vaccinate every pet for rabies.
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Aug 28, 2008 03:46
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Saphira posted:I went to the humane society yesterday, and they said that the kittens there were too young for FIV testing. The kittens I was looking at were around 4-6 months old. I had never heard of this. I got a kitten about 3 months ago from a different shelter, and they had tested for FIV. What's the deal? They can certainly test for FIV, but the test can take up to 6 months to show up as positive, so that's probably why they say that. A FIV test at 4 months is very unreliable. However, FeLV can be detected in kittens of that age, so they should have tested for that, at least.
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Sep 23, 2008 08:28
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Citizen Insane posted:I'm praying it's a testosterone thing, since his neutered status is ... weird. No visible testicles to speak of, but the Humane Society claimed he hadn't been fixed. Vet could find no balls, but vet also doesn't have xray vision and didn't do a hormone test. So. The only change in routine was the fact that I left the Hoover in the extra bedroom, near where he likes to sit at the window. Could it have been a 'gently caress off' territorial gesture at the Hoover? I've left it sitting out before and nothing like this happened ... Your vet didn't offer the possible explanation of the dog being cryptorchid and scheduling some kind of hormonal test or exploratory surgery? Animals with an undescended testicle are far more likely than normal to develop tumors in their testicles, as well as anecdotal reports of increased testosterone effect on behavior. If your vet is unwilling to pursue this you should ask for a referral to a specialist who might want to.
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Oct 17, 2008 17:05
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It's certainly an odd thing to have started on the dog's part, but at this point you're conditioning your dog that going outside and barking/whining outside of your window at night will get you to wake up and pay attention to him. Is there a way to lock the dog door at night?
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Oct 26, 2008 07:50
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A lot of areas have organizations that will come and "clean up" the feral population: humanely trap, then spay/neuter and release them (sometimes with FIV/FeLV testing so that they can catch the disease vectors too). Search around for TNR (trap/neuter/release) programs in your area. Sometimes they have funding, more often they don't, but usually they can work with you and/or other concerned people in your neighborhood to get the cats taken care of. The cats will just keep reproducing all year round until they start to become a real nuisance (if they haven't already...) if the cycle isn't stopped. Alley Cat Allies is one example of a national organization that assists with these efforts, and Feral Feline Organization is one that started in my area (but has begun to spread its wings a little). Sekhmet fucked around with this message at 10:45 on Oct 31, 2008 |
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Oct 31, 2008 10:38
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With fleas, you can't get away with just treating the pets. Fleas spend most of their time not physically on the animals. You need to treat the house, yard and the pets, in the way in which Sachiel and MoCookies describe.
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Nov 1, 2008 21:35
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Capstar is pretty expensive and I've mostly only seen it used as a one-time "get the fleas off of this animal because we've treated the environment and it's on regular flea prevention" thing rather than a routine flea prevention. For what it's worth, I have seen really good results with Ectokyl IGR spray for the environment and their flea shampoo for the animal as well. See if your vet carries these, or order them from the 'net. Sekhmet fucked around with this message at 23:36 on Nov 2, 2008 |
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Nov 2, 2008 23:32
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Lixer posted:My boyfriend woke up this morning to his cat crying and a RED gummy eye. We took her to the emergency vet since it's Sunday and expected some high bills, but for a checkup and blood work we didn't expect it to be $420. I don't have the bill with me but he said the "checkup" portion was $110 and $60 for two medications. That's about normal for an emergency clinic, as previously mentioned.
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Nov 10, 2008 02:07
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Noumena posted:Is there a proper way to bandage the scabs? Any medicine that helps them heal more quickly? I wish I could be around 24/7 to keep him from scratching, but that's just not possible. If I take the sweater off, he scratches himself bloody in minutes. What should I do? He could have basically scratched himself into having a skin infection, or he could have allergies that are acting up. You need to take your dog to the vet and get him checked out for these things.
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Nov 13, 2008 18:56
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