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Superconsndar posted:I only forked out a ton for rat surgeries at my craziest, because if I spend a ton on rat surgeries, I'm the best pet owner ever, right??? Right there with you. As much as I love my non-dog and cat animals, I just can't bring myself to spend a shitload of money on vet stuff for them. I will make them happy and comfortable and spoiled rotten, but if we're talking $1000 in surgery for Harley or something,  sorry Harley. Vet care and stuff I will totally do, but if we're talking about knocking out say, a gerbil, to remove a tumor, I will probably just bring the gerbil home, give it an amazing day and take it out back Ol Yeller style, quickly and painlessly. But yeah I'd sell my ovaries for the dogs on the other hand. You want a finger? Sure no problem save my dog and you can have it. I get free insurance. They don't. RabbitMage posted:I want a Labradoodle. Adopt one.  Also, I guess I should say the biggest reason my cats aren't here is at least mostly because the relatives they're with don't want to give them up. They keep them in a single (very nice, very large, very comfortable) room. So I'm kind of fighting with that and probably will end up losing.
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Nov 28, 2012 15:56
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Superconsndar posted:On a less depressing note, I actively encourage my dogs to hump each other and then laugh at them until it hurts their feelings. I also laugh at my humping dogs until they feel shame (or not, in the case of my corgi). My border collie mix has only ever tried to hump anything else a handful of times. When he tried humping my corgi, she made the best WTF face, laid down and watched him all  as he was humping the air over her. He has magnificent rear end curtains, and they flapped back and forth with his humping motions. I.could.not.handle.it. He is suuuuuuper sensitive, so I was trying my hardest not to laugh. Tears were streaming down my face and eventually I couldn't handle it. I burst out laughing, and Loki looked up at me, put on the saddest face ever and dejectedly walked away. My corgi humps all kinds of toys, she does not feel any shame in the matter and puts on the best  face she can muster.I feel horribly guilty that I still haven't started taking my corgi to herding training. Two of her littermates are already titled ... I have an anxiety order and the thought of having to drive over an hour away and do a thing I know nothing about is terrifying. My plan is to start in the spring though I also constantly blame myself for my dogs' reactivity and anxiety issues. My crazy rubs off on them =\ I am working on it though! Curse my love of overly sensitive, emotional herdin' dawgs.
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Nov 28, 2012 16:11
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I knock on the wall when my dog can't see, because she goes nuts and runs for the door every time. Then I'll ask her why she's so crazy, after I open the door and we look out. She falls for this without fail. I also don't brush my long hair cat as much as I should, but he's an rear end in a top hat who slices me open every time I try but is nice for the groomers.
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Nov 28, 2012 16:11
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Asa is currently in her crate (By her own choice) for being a "bad dog." I'm overly tired, stressed and yelled at her for trying to eat the cats breakfast instead of her own. I now feel terrible, but a time-out makes it all better. We'll go play in the backyard soon...which I need to clean all her poop out of, since if its on my own property I'm loving lazy about picking up dog poop.
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Nov 28, 2012 16:33
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Maybe this isn't a confession, but every time I get asked to donate to a pet based charity and can't (poor grad student) I feel horribly guilty. Those humane society ads with the sad cats and dogs? Make me cry like a baby. Donation solicitations from the Schipperke specific rescue? Even worse. Outside of stuff like that I don't cry a lot so I have no idea why I am so emotionally fragile about these things in particular. Am I going to become a crazy rescue lady?
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Nov 28, 2012 16:34
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When my childhood cat died when I was in college, I got sick of people asking me how he died and started telling them his parachute didn't open.
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Nov 28, 2012 16:41
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Superconsndar posted:He is a good dog and it isn't his fault he's anxious, and I get mad at him for not being dumb and oblivious enough.
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Nov 28, 2012 16:47
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Superconsndar posted:...Unless I just happen to REALLY like that animal for whatever reason, and then I will meltdown over it and spend whatever I can so basically I am horrible and play favorites. I have a weird kind of line between psycho animal lady and being pragmatic. I love animals and give my animals the best care I can, which means decent food/housing/toys/taking to the vets/etc, but there has to be a line. I'd spend more money on surgery on Lola than on Jess, because Jess is nearly thirteen years old and Lola is like two, and more on Jess than on the rats. I know it's an unpopular opinion on PI to have animals if you can't afford to fork out XYZ amount of money at any one time, but that's just not always possible imo.
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Nov 28, 2012 16:48
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Fraction posted:I have a weird kind of line between psycho animal lady and being pragmatic. I love animals and give my animals the best care I can, which means decent food/housing/toys/taking to the vets/etc, but there has to be a line. I'd spend more money on surgery on Lola than on Jess, because Jess is nearly thirteen years old and Lola is like two, and more on Jess than on the rats. I think that's a really reasonable position to take.
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Nov 28, 2012 16:58
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I've heard it banded around here that if you don't have like several thousand saved up at any one point for each animal then you are a Bad Owner and shouldn't have pets v v
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Nov 28, 2012 17:01
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Fraction posted:I have a weird kind of line between psycho animal lady and being pragmatic. I love animals and give my animals the best care I can, which means decent food/housing/toys/taking to the vets/etc, but there has to be a line. I'd spend more money on surgery on Lola than on Jess, because Jess is nearly thirteen years old and Lola is like two, and more on Jess than on the rats. I'm a farm kid at heart still. My pets will get the best care they can, good food,etc. But if they are sick or have some horrible accident that's going to be brutally expensive - they'll get one kick-rear end last day or two before I have them euthed. I understand why people do what they do, but I was raised pretty basic - if the animal won't have at least 80% of their life back, its not fair to keep them around for our consciences. Although I still have favorites, even amongst my pets, so yeah, I'm also a hypocrite 
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Nov 28, 2012 17:03
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El Gar posted:I actually like dogs. Me too, dude  Dexter has a tendency to wake up at 4am and demand poo poo happens. Sometimes he gets fed and just calms down. Other times, he demands attention, knocking things off of shelves, meowing incessantly, and running across the bed. If this happens, I put him into his carrier and put that on the opposite side of the house for a few hours at least. Tough poo poo, buddy.
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Nov 28, 2012 17:17
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I nearly drained my savings last year trying to keep Rufus in a state of good health and let the wellness checks/shots slide on the other cats. It's been nine months since he passed and I'm still trying to catch up.
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Nov 28, 2012 17:26
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A cat started hanging around the house after I adopted my FIV+ male. She's a tiny tortie who loves to brush up against me when I'm working outside. My mother started feeding her grocery store food and now she climbs the screen on the back door and looks into the kitchen which always results in her getting fed. She's a nice kitty and I think I can feel a spay scar (yes she has let me get that close to her and pick her up, I have cat magic). The problem is, neither I nor my mother have the money to support another cat. I put aside enough to properly vet Ai, feed him a grain-free diet thanks to PI, and have some emergency money but that's it. There's also no room to add another litter box unless it's in the kitchen. I live in Ohio and it's been in the high 30s lately. Since said tortie isn't pregnant, no shelter will take her in (I've called around). I've been looking into making an insulated shelter for her but I feel bad when I go outside at night and she's snuggled up next to the house for heat. Lots of unwanted cats get dumped in my neighborhood. There's at least three other cats running around right now, but the tortie is the only one that shows up at least once a day and sleeps in our yard. mistressminako fucked around with this message at 17:32 on Nov 28, 2012 |
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Nov 28, 2012 17:28
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I punish my dogs when they are bad. Mainly I yell at them, I have actually grabbed Delta and sort of tossed her to the ground so I could yell at her (we do not nip at cats in this household). And it works, they learn very quickly to stop doing the bad thing. I feel like a piece of poo poo after when they stare at me and want to be friends again  Especially Sigma. Delta is very resilient and just jumps up and carries on with her day. Sigma will slink around even if he wasn't the one in trouble.
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Nov 28, 2012 17:30
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RabbitMage posted:I want a Labradoodle. Along these lines, I would adopt a hippo dog if one that was hilarious looking enough came in to the county shelter. They crack me up, I'd maybe like to own one at least once as long as I wasn't paying a breeder and wasn't paying more than $50 for it.
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Nov 28, 2012 17:38
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Sometimes when I'm tired or in a bad mood and I come home after a long day to a mess in the house, I stomp around and yell at my dogs even though I know they don't know why I'm doing it and it isn't even their fault because I left them alone too long (I'm very rarely gone all day so we don't deal with this often). Then I feel guilty and they get special treats later that night. I'm also bad on the litterboxes. One box for two cats, scooped a couple of times a week. I do a full litter change about once a week though. I also look the other way when my old dog eats cat poop because it means I have to scoop less, even though I know that's disgusting but hey dogs are pretty gross anyway. Right after my divorce I was really broke and I fed my dogs Ol' Roy for a month because I couldn't really afford anything else. I kept a Betta in a fish bowl for 3 years before I learned any better. Sometimes I think about doing it again because my old fish did so well...  (I won't though)edit: Oh yeah, and I like never trim my dogs' nails and some are pretty long. Not like uncomfortably (for the dog) long, but long enough that people have commented on them (usually after getting scratched in the face because I also encourage rough play with my dogs...). I just hate doing it because the dogs who are the problems have really hard black nails and I always quick them, and I just always forget to stop by the grooming department when we're in Petsmart or Petco (both will do a quick and good nail trim without an appointment). It makes me feel like a Bad Owner though. 2tomorrow fucked around with this message at 18:20 on Nov 28, 2012 |
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Nov 28, 2012 17:40
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I've poked my two older dogs in the eye more times than I can count. It's their own fault for always being too close and being the perfect height for me to bop them in the face any time I raise my hand from my side. I yell at Lilly for doing generic cat things while I'm trying to sleep. I've actually stopped feeling guilty, it's like natural reaction now. I think I yell "LILLY STOP" so much at night that people may think I'm Sammi from the Jersey Shore. Also all the generic things, litter box laziness, dogs getting people food and not walking them properly.
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Nov 28, 2012 17:48
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I let Sadie drink from the toilet. She has a bunch of water bowls scattered around the apartment, which I change regularly, and a drinkwell fountain. But the water in the second bathroom toilet is apparently where it is at for my cat. One day she is going to slip and fall in face-first and it is going to be absolutely hilarious. Oh Yeah, and sometimes when I wash my hands and she is being pesty I use her for a towel. Shifty Pony fucked around with this message at 18:09 on Nov 28, 2012 |
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Nov 28, 2012 18:02
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I'll deliberately rile Sheila up because when I do, she'll sometimes go running off making a bizarre yodeling/VHS tape being rewound or unspooled noise, and it's hilarious.
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Nov 28, 2012 19:24
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I haven't taken my cat to the vet in years because I can't afford it. He's probably dying of some undiagnosed illness as we speak.
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Nov 28, 2012 19:28
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Oh yeah, I encourage hella rough play with my dog too, including mouthing. I'm never going to have or be around children it's fine. 
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Nov 28, 2012 19:37
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Keeper hates men (unless they're effeminate and/or gay) and since I'm a gay lady I don't interact with a lot of dudes so I pretty much do nothing about it. He's fine with everyone while he's out and about on leash, and sucks up to people he would normally hate all the time, just to screw with me. But if you come into my house you will be BARK BARK BARK'ed at until your ears are ringing. ETA: sometimes I think about buying puppies on craigslist
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Nov 28, 2012 20:17
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We still haven't identified what's causing Neige's mystery infrequent limp, and the more days I go without seeing it, the less I feel like making that neurologist appointment to check for things like slipped disks. It's so weird and non-typical of ANYTHING that I almost feel like I'm depriving a specialist of a puzzle to figure out, but my wallet is happier with ignorance. We will probably get this done, but the more days between incidence, the more we're able to keep rebuilding our financial safety net post-house purchase.
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Nov 28, 2012 20:35
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I have Opinions about euthanasia. I am perfectly comfortable with the idea of putting down basically anything for any reason. I'm not happy about it, but I feel like it should be an option instead of a superscary last resort. I felt vindicated when our professor told us about the dog he refused to euthanize for convenience reasons that came in the next day with a steak knife in its chest. Also I am a big hypocritical dummy and give James licks of tasty things even though he is supposed to be on a novel LID.
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Nov 28, 2012 20:49
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adventure in the sandbox posted:I punish my dogs when they are bad. Mainly I yell at them, I have actually grabbed Delta and sort of tossed her to the ground so I could yell at her (we do not nip at cats in this household). And it works, they learn very quickly to stop doing the bad thing. I've yelled at Bailey when he's done things that really upset me or are dangerous, and he just stares at me and gives me really half hearted lip licks and falls over asking for a belly rub. Sometimes just seeing the appeasement behaviors does make me feel a little bit better, even when I know its not that he's "sorry" or guilty for doing whatever got me mad in the first place.
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Nov 28, 2012 21:04
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Topoisomerase posted:Oh yeah, I encourage hella rough play with my dog too, including mouthing. Same here. Sigma will take my forearm in his mouth if I get him riled up and offer it, and he will squeeze-release like he does when he's chewing tennis balls. Sometimes he does it really hard and leaves bruises  And I taught him to nibble on fuzzy socks, he sometimes pinches my feet with his incisors so I scream and start laughing. No kids in my future, I supervise like a paranoid hawk when they are around little kids, so its all good. I don't give a poo poo about older kids, they should have enough smarts wtftastic posted:Sometimes just seeing the appeasement behaviors does make me feel a little bit better, even when I know its not that he's "sorry" or guilty for doing whatever got me mad in the first place. This too
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Nov 28, 2012 21:11
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Captain Foxy posted:ETA: sometimes I think about buying puppies on craigslist There was ~Jork Russell~ puppies in the pet shop I visited today. One was really feisty and I would be a filthy liar if I said I wasn't tempted to snatch him up and bring him home. Thankfully they cost a crazy amount of money! adventure in the sandbox posted:I punish my dogs when they are bad. Mainly I yell at them, I have actually grabbed Delta and sort of tossed her to the ground so I could yell at her (we do not nip at cats in this household). And it works, they learn very quickly to stop doing the bad thing. Jess does not respond to cooing baby tones if I want her to do a thing (like go in/out of a room, go into the yard to pee because I have work, etc). I get really loving frustrated when she just stands and stares at me and I've screamed at her quite a lot of times before. Lola has a quiet meltdown about it and Jess barely gives a gently caress. Hounds. 
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Nov 28, 2012 21:15
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-I prefer my mom's dog to my puppy. If I could trade her, I would in a heartbeat. -I love my puppy to death, but I also regret getting him. I'm not responsible enough for a dog, and since I've clearly proven that to my family, I'll be hearing about it until the day I die. -My cat makes a funny squeaking noise if you squeeze him in a certain way. I squeeze him often. -I clean the litterbox once every 3-4 days. I'm actually putting off cleaning it right now. -I used to let my cat eat the other cat's vomit. -I am completely open about the fact that Fussy (my grey cat) is my favorite of all my pets. I don't believe that people love all of their pets equally. uptown fucked around with this message at 22:19 on Nov 28, 2012 |
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Nov 28, 2012 21:56
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uptown posted:-I am completely open about the fact that Fussy (my grey cat) is my favorite of all my pets. I don't believe that people love all of their pets equally. I know I don't My old duffer Poko, he's 16 or 17, and retarded, and terrified of everything, and is just generally crap at being a cat. I love him, sure, but he's coming down to the end of his days and I have to say I'm not going to be too terribly upset when he passes because he'll finally have some peace and not be so scared of things. Sometimes I think about taking him in to have him put down just so that I don't have to put up with him fear peeing all over everything whenever the dog comes up to say how do. And then I feel horribly guilty about thinking such things and have to shut the dog out of my bedroom so I can pet Poko and tell him that I do love him, I do, and I'm sorry that he's retarded and is too scared to do anything but hide under my computer desk 23.5 hours a day.I just don't love Poko as much as my other cats or the dog. And now I feel like a monster for admitting it and am going to have to make Poko some popcorn tonight because he loving loves the stuff and I'm an awful awful cat lady
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Nov 28, 2012 22:33
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When my younger cats are being utter assholes to the older cat I grab a squirt bottle and chase them around the house with it until they are nice and wet. If I can't find a squirt bottle I will soak them down under the kitchen faucet. The wetter they are, the more time they will have to spend licking themselves dry before resuming the rear end in a top hat behavior. When my chihuahua wakes me up in the middle of the night and then decides it's too cold for him to pee outside, I toss him out on the lawn and shout at him until he pees. Sometimes he attempts to flee back to the porch and shiver on the door mat, but I continue to put him on the cold grass and shout. "N0! BAD DOG! PEE OR DEATH!!!" I figure if he's going to wake me up at 3am it should be unpleasant for both of us. We only have a front yard and it's fenced with chain link, so anyone who happens to be walking by at 3am will get to witness this.
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Nov 28, 2012 23:16
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A while ago, a local pet store that I love started selling puppies. I got all butthurt over it and vowed not to go there anymore, but I still do because it is local, convenient, sells Taste of the Wild and the owner is friendly. Sometimes I play with the puppies and wish I could take one home.
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Nov 28, 2012 23:50
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Oh god lets see: -My dog puked at like 6am, and instead of getting up, I let him eat it and went back to sleep. -I don't wipe his butt after he poops, even though my mother demands we do it every time. -I don't wipe his feet when we come back in after a walk, same thing as above. -I should take him for long walks, but I just take him out until he pees/poops, then it's back inside.  edit: Vvv He had Giardia for quite a while as a puppy, and we did it to keep him from licking and reinfecting himself. Now we do it because poop gets stuck. Deep Thoreau fucked around with this message at 00:07 on Nov 29, 2012 |
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Nov 28, 2012 23:58
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Bash Ironfist posted:wipe his butt after he poops Wait wait wait do people actually do this
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Nov 29, 2012 00:03
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Shifty Pony posted:I leave things around the house hoping she will get into them and be cute but she never does. I have a cat that doesn't like boxes, what's up with that? I had exactly this confusion until I turned the box upside down, and within five minutes kitty was all OH HEY IT'S A BOX, MUST SIT ON IT ALL DAY ERRY DAY, WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT
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Nov 29, 2012 00:07
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I feel like this has turned into the people version of the Dog Shaming tumblr. I'm pretty sure we need pictures of you guys with little pieces of paper around your necks, looking sad, and declaring your shame. I pretty much let my animals get away with everything. I will let the cat take a nibble from stuff I'm eating even though he shouldn't have them(he loves sweets...he's a weirdo), and continue eating it. I don't walk my dogs as much as a should, mainly because the one is old and is having issues walking a lot, and I feel guilty taking the other one if the old one can't go. I try to kiss my one cat all them time only because he really hates it. I'm a monster.
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Nov 29, 2012 00:15
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Dan turned into a humourless lump after we got him neutered. He went from being a personable, busy, well built little guy to a lazy, listless fatty. I still love him, but I miss my awesome dog and definitely regret the operation. If I have another boydog in the future I will always vasectomise if possible.
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Nov 29, 2012 00:15
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uptown posted:-I prefer my mom's dog to my puppy. If I could trade her, I would in a heartbeat. I would trade my cat in a hot second too. Basically, I would infinitely prefer any cat that doesn't have worse health issues (he's on rx food for his cloggy cat peepee, the big baby) that is more independent -- or hell, standoffish. This cat tries every five minutes to climb in my lap. "Oh you moved the laptop? Let me just get in there. Oh, you're sitting cross-legged leaning forward with your elbows resting on your knees? I can fit." I have stopped feeling bad about pushing him away most of the time because if I didn't, he'd spend every moment (that he wasn't eating or making GBS threads) in my lap, drooling on me and headbutting me and getting his drat fur all over my clothes. drat lovey cat.  Bash Ironfist posted:-My dog puked at like 6am, and instead of getting up, I let him eat it and went back to sleep. Haha, I let my cat do this. "Well, there's your lunch."
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Nov 29, 2012 00:18
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Dunkin Donuts finally opened in town this week and people are going nuts. I was so excited to get a box of munchkins today so me and Quaffle could share a donut. Puppy's first donut  I don't care if they're bad for him (and me), this is a bonding ritual don't judge us
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Nov 29, 2012 00:27
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I, too, hoarded animals during the worst years of my life. Birds, to be precise (surprise!). When I abruptly had to move cross-country I left them with my mother. I found out three years later that she kept them all in the basement, took such good care of them that my favorite parakeet (a rosy Bourke's, she was so sweet) had a literal poo poo stalagmite under her preferred perch, and one of my budgies died of starvation. My cockatiel was the only one who was still alive by the time my little sister alerted me and now the cockatiel lives with me and my conure, and I pamper her as much as I can but she's old and just wants to sleep all day anyway. That was a few years ago and I still feel really awful. I also like to imprison my boyfriend's cat beneath my body/in my arms and yell "TIME TO SQUASH RAMIREZ!!" He's a very good sport.
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Nov 29, 2012 00:35
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