The Pet Info Thread

[Jeepster80125 0]

edit

[Sal Paradise 57]

edit

was it something about mercury being retarded? I bet it was.

[hblask 1]

If you can't be bothered to clip a cat's nails, you really have no business owning a pet at all.

What if it just showed up at our door, and the choice was to let it in and feed it or have it eaten by coyotes?Then what are my responsibilities? She'd claw my face off if I tried to clip her nails.

[timwakefield 68]

Piddleduck, my cat looks a lot like yours. She has the longest hair ever. Her name is Ol' Dirty Bastard. We got her and her 5 siblings when they were 2 weeks old. My roommate found them outside without their mother, who must have been injured or killed. Anyways we took them all in and raised them from bottles. ODB was the runt, and the vet told us not to be surprised if 1 or 2 of them didn't make it. She couldn't really clean herself, and once they graduated to regular food mashed up with milk, she got her name, as she would just plunge her whole body into the food bowl, and then not clean herself. We gave them lots of baths, which was the cutest thing ever. You could literally hold all 6 of them in your two hands when we first got them. The other 5 all got given away at various times, but the ODB stuck with me. Well, me and my ex-roommate (one of the ones who was there from day 1) trade her off between us, depending on if one of us goes away for awhile or one of us moves to a non-cat apartment (him). So I've got her for a good long while. Oh, we named her before we knew her sex, but the name fits her so goddam well, even now that clean and pretty. She's like the most talkative cat ever, and grumbles a lot. Also, she completely hates strangers, to the point that she hisses at anybody who she doesn't know. We think she may have been abused during a year-long stay she had with a third person, who is not a good friend of either me or Dirty's other owner. So yeah - no questions for speedz, just sharing my pet. Here she is looking characteristically dirty, with a face full of sawdust or pollen or something.

[Southern Buddhist 1]

What if it just showed up at our door, and the choice was to let it in and feed it or have it eaten by coyotes?Then what are my responsibilities? She'd claw my face off if I tried to clip her nails.

Always the libertarian. Back in college, my housemate had a cat that was very much an independent outdoor cat. He nearly emasculated the vet when the vet tried to clip his claws. It took a leash and a towel wrapped around the cat's whole body to get it done, and he still hissed and screamed the whole time.As I understand it, a kitten only has about the first six months of life to get used to humans. If it has good early interactions with humans during that time, it will be pretty much a tame housecat for life. If it has bad interactions or no interaction at all, then it's a cat's cat and will kill you if you try to touch it or look at it wrong.Sounds like you might have the latter. In that case, scratching post or concrete (if she goes outdoors anymore). But I still wouldn't declaw it, because declawing is still amputation of a perfectly healthy body part.My grandmother "kept" 6-10 cats on their farm. She threw out scraps and the cats would come eat, but they were totally feral. They never let us kids near them, and they used the fence posts around the pasture to keep their claws trimmed.P.S. Minnesota has coyotes??? I would think it would be too cold.

[Southern Buddhist 1]

Is it safe or hygenic to **** an animal? Inquiring minds want to know. Or, at least, a "friend" of mine. Yessss, a friend....

"Hey, Moe, I've got this friend ... Joey ... Jo-Jo ..."

[JoeyJoJo 18]

"Hey, Moe, I've got this friend ... Joey ... Jo-Jo ..."

:looks up from my drink:

[timwakefield 68]

But I still wouldn't declaw it, because declawing is still amputation of a perfectly healthy body part.

Declawing is awful for a cat. Like you said it is unnecessary amputation, and can cause major problems. And besides medical problems, you are literally taking away their only defense/offense. If a declawed cat gets in danger, it has no way of defending itself. I don't clip my cat's nails. I've tried a few times, but she flatly refuses. I'm not sure why it would be worth it to wrap her in a towel and have her screaming and crying about it? Clipping a cat's nails is something that has to be done on a regular basis if your goal is to keep the cat's nails from being super sharp and scratchy. But the nails take care of themselves too, or at least the cat takes care of them his/herself. Cats don't scratch couches and posts and things just for fun - it is their way of manicuring their nails, and removing dead layers.

[Allie 0]

Hi.I just wanted to throw out some info for Adam (?) regarding the allergy issues with your Lab. (he's very handsome btw)I had a Golden Retriever with severe allergies - he passed on 2 years ago at the age of 13. He developed skin allergies very early - before a year old, and it was an ongoing issue all his life. It started with very bad ear infection when he was about 9 months old, which turned out to be due to allergies and scratching his ears - causing open areas - bleeding and infection.We then spent the better part of 2 years trying to control the allergies. He had allergy testing - which revealed numerous allergies to common things, including dust, various grasses, trees, etc - this is very typical and common. We tried allergy shots for a year, which didn't work for him. (lots of money and no positive results). We tried several medications, and at the end of the day.....the only thing that worked for him was predisone (a corticosteriod). Eventually, we came down to using low dose prednisone on a regular basis. This is far from an ideal scenario......as prednisone has several detrimental side effects.....(liver damage, muscle wasting, increased appetite and weight gain, and others). He did put on weight and was a beast for food.....but we monitored the other things closely (ie. checked by the vet regularly for muscle wasting/liver symptoms etc). After dealing with this for about 11 years.....I have no doubt in my mind, that the allergy symptoms caused him great discomfort. Insatiable itching......causing the frequent ear scratching and paw chewing.....can't have been pleasant for him. Pretty much every time I took him off the pred - he would develop an ear infection, or chew his paws raw. Imo......the prednisone was the lesser of 2 evils. Keeping him on a maintenance dose, with occasional increases in dosage when things flared up - overall didn't hurt him in the long run. He lived to 13.....developed cancer (throat) and had to be put down.I'm not suggesting that your dog necessarily needs prednisone, but from what you've described I'd say it's highly likely that he has allergies other than food allergies - environmental allergies that you can't remove from his environment. The itching is probably pretty uncomfortable and he may need meds. Just my 2 cents. But, I'm no Speedz. :)side note: I have another Golden - she's almost 2 now. So far, no sign of allergy problems. She's a sweetie.

[JSpencer 0]

Pedipaws is amazing btw. I recommend it to anyone.

[Balloon guy 158]

So I fed my Shephard only wet food tonight and he ate it all, i took him out to play and once he got the pull rope in his mouth he let go real fast and started moping around, so it looks pretty sure that it's his teeth. I guess he gets a tooth pulled here real soon.Unless you can take out all their teeth...is that an option?

[speedz99 145]

So I fed my Shephard only wet food tonight and he ate it all, i took him out to play and once he got the pull rope in his mouth he let go real fast and started moping around, so it looks pretty sure that it's his teeth. I guess he gets a tooth pulled here real soon.Unless you can take out all their teeth...is that an option?

Eh...I'm not so sure that any vet would do that unless all of the teeth really needed to be pulled. Usually what happens is they extract any teeth that need to come out, and for the rest they do a full cleaning so they should be good to go for at least a few years. And yes, I know you're at least partially joking, but I field questions like that all the time at work so I'm answering it anyway.Beware, dentals are expensive.

[Love4hockey 0]

Hey Speedz, I'm thinking about getting a cat sometime soon. I'm in North Dakota for the summer so there are a lot of farm kittens for giveaway. They are all around 8 weeks old. Is there anything I should worry about if I get a farm kitten?

[speedz99 145]

Hey Speedz, I'm thinking about getting a cat sometime soon. I'm in North Dakota for the summer so there are a lot of farm kittens for giveaway. They are all around 8 weeks old. Is there anything I should worry about if I get a farm kitten?

8 weeks is pretty close to what can be the feral vs friendly cutoff for kittens. You can get a young feral cat to get used to humans fairly easily, but a lot of the time they'll never really be "people" cats. If you do take one that age that's only lived in a barn with the mother to this point, be careful about which one you choose. Try handling all of them, see which are ok with being picked up and carried around, figure out which ones will always walk over to you and look for attention, try playing with them, etc. Don't let me discourage you, there's a good chance that you'll find one or more that'll turn out to be fantastic, you just have to choose...wisely.If you do take one, bring it to the vet right away. A lot of barn cats have upper respiratory issues (easily fixed) and fleas (easily fixed). You'll also want to get them tested for FIV and feline leukemia...your vet should have a combo test that'll check for both within 10 minutes or so. After that and the vaccine series he or she will be good to go.

[hblask 1]

Always the libertarian. Back in college, my housemate had a cat that was very much an independent outdoor cat. He nearly emasculated the vet when the vet tried to clip his claws. It took a leash and a towel wrapped around the cat's whole body to get it done, and he still hissed and screamed the whole time.As I understand it, a kitten only has about the first six months of life to get used to humans. If it has good early interactions with humans during that time, it will be pretty much a tame housecat for life. If it has bad interactions or no interaction at all, then it's a cat's cat and will kill you if you try to touch it or look at it wrong.Sounds like you might have the latter. In that case, scratching post or concrete (if she goes outdoors anymore). But I still wouldn't declaw it, because declawing is still amputation of a perfectly healthy body part.My grandmother "kept" 6-10 cats on their farm. She threw out scraps and the cats would come eat, but they were totally feral. They never let us kids near them, and they used the fence posts around the pasture to keep their claws trimmed.P.S. Minnesota has coyotes??? I would think it would be too cold.

This cat was a house cat from birth, just not our house cat. As near as we can tell, it ran away from its owner and was picked up by a neighbor who kept it for about 8 months, who then decided they couldn't keep pets and drove out of the city and dumped it out in the country. When we took it to the vet it had a tracking chip. The owner took it back for a couple days and said it wasn't getting along with the other cats, so we got it back.We are not getting it declawed, because it loves outside too much, and you just can't declaw an outdoor cat. She's a great hunter, which is good and bad. Fewer mice = good. Mice parts on our front steps = bad.And yes, we have coyotes, they come very close to the house, and we hear them howling all the time.

[AmScray 355]

I didn't read all four pages because I'm self-centered and don't care what others have to say, so forgive if this has been answered already.What food should I buy my Australian Shepherd that will ensure she has the longest life possible (inasmuch as food plays a role in lifespan?)I don't care about cost/benefit ratio. If 2X cost gets me 10% improvement, I'm OK with that. And don't just reply by saying that the most expensive food is the best if you cannot articulate why. If you know, please share the information and justify your answer. If you don't know, please don't lead me down the wrong path because the dog is one of about three things in this life I actually give a **** about.This is a serious question.

[brvheart 1,752]

If you do take one, bring it to the vet right away. A lot of barn cats have upper respiratory issues (easily fixed) and fleas (easily fixed). You'll also want to get them tested for FIV and feline leukemia...your vet should have a combo test that'll check for both within 10 minutes or so. After that and the vaccine series he or she will be good to go.

..and ear mites. Barn cats all have ear mites.

[speedz99 145]

I didn't read all four pages because I'm self-centered and don't care what others have to say, so forgive if this has been answered already.What food should I buy my Australian Shepherd that will ensure she has the longest life possible (inasmuch as food plays a role in lifespan?)I don't care about cost/benefit ratio. If 2X cost gets me 10% improvement, I'm OK with that. And don't just reply by saying that the most expensive food is the best if you cannot articulate why. If you know, please share the information and justify your answer. If you don't know, please don't lead me down the wrong path because the dog is one of about three things in this life I actually give a **** about.This is a serious question.

I honestly can't answer that question, partially because I'm not quite well enough informed, but mostly because there's no one answer. As with people, every dog is different in terms of how they react to any given food. There are three basic levels of dog food.1. Shitty grocery store and generic brands (Ol' Roy, etc). Do not buy these. Ever. If your local pet store has a food they claim is amazing, it's most likely some random shit food that's put in their packaging. 2. Solid name brands (Iams, Purina, etc). These go through legit 3rd party testing, and any animal would be fine eating them full time.3. The best stuff (Science Diet, Solid Gold, vet prescribed foods, etc). Yes, they're the most expensive. No, of course I can't tell you how much they'll increase your dog's life span...nobody can.As long as you get food from level 2 or 3, the dog will not die from anything having to do with her diet. Her energy level and the quality of her coat may be improved a bit by one food over the other (which, again, can vary from dog to dog), but that's about it once you get up into the best foods. For certain dogs I'd recommend breed-specific diets (i.e. a joint supplement food for giant breeds), but Aussies typically don't need anything like that. Organic/holistic foods are usually ok as long as you trust the brand, but beware of anyone who claims that dogs live longer, healthier lives on raw diets. Contrary to what some people will tell you, dogs do need to eat some grains/carbs. They are not carnivores only. If you do ever decide to go with a new agey type of diet, do me (and your dog) a favor and stick your head back in this thread to make sure you do it safely. Again, as long as you feed her good food from trusted brands that go through extensive trials (that info should be on the bag or website), you don't have to worry that with a different food you'd be increasing her life span.

[speedz99 145]

..and ear mites. Barn cats all have ear mites.

Good one, they do indeed. Ever seen those fuckers under a microscope? It's some sick shit.

[brvheart 1,752]

Good one, they do indeed. Ever seen those fuckers under a microscope? It's some sick shit.

I have. Our cat is a barn cat and had them something fierce.

[vbnautilus 48]

Speaking of new-agey pet foods, we've been feeding ours this stuff for a while. It's dehydrated so you just add water to prepare it. http://www.thehonestkitchen.comThe puppy one we were using contains: Hormone-free USDA turkey, organic flaxseed, potatoes, celery, spinach, carrots, coconut, apples, organic kelp, eggs, bananas, cranberries and rosemary.Now that's some new-age deliciously expensive dog food!Just look at the packaging, you can tell how awesome it is. (my motto: always judge things by their packaging). The dogs love it although it turns their faces kinda green.

[Sal Paradise 57]

Speaking of new-agey pet foods, we've been feeding ours this stuff for a while. It's dehydrated so you just add water to prepare it. http://www.thehonestkitchen.comThe puppy one we were using contains: Hormone-free USDA turkey, organic flaxseed, potatoes, celery, spinach, carrots, coconut, apples, organic kelp, eggs, bananas, cranberries and rosemary.Now that's some new-age deliciously expensive dog food!Just look at the packaging, you can tell how awesome it is. (my motto: always judge things by their packaging). The dogs love it although it turns their faces kinda green.

damn, they knew I wasn't a real new age hippie so they wouldn't let me look at their site. hippies are getting tech savvy!

[strategy 4]

If you're afraid that your vet isn't fixing your dog's allergies because he wants to convince you to spend more money, you need to find a new vet.

I get the impression that adam isn't a very trusting person by naturecomes with his line of business

[AmScray 355]

I'd like the dog to live 18-20 years.So, if I buy her the best possible foods, what else can I do to facilitate this outcome?

[Balloon guy 158]

I'd like the dog to live 18-20 years.So, if I buy her the best possible foods, what else can I do to facilitate this outcome?

Keep her away from Koreans?