Pet(s): Photos & Discussion

[emma675]

My other dog Olivia got out at least 3 times and neighbors corralled her for me, so I was just paying it forward. The owners actually stopped by and brought me cookies to say thanks, so that was nice. I have a nice little neighborhood. 

[Maharincess]

I would like you all to meet Bunny, the newest member of the Maharincess family.  I went to the shelter with my daughter for her to adopt a cat and came home with her.  She is so Damn sweet I couldn't resist.  And with those ears, what else could I have named her? 

Edited February 10, 2018 by Maharincess

[Bastet]

Adorable - she looks like she could take flight with those ears.  She has a great face and cute coloring.  How old is she? 

And who'd you wind up with for a grandcat?

Congratulations.

[Maharincess]

She's 3. She's a chihuahua mix but they aren't sure what she's mixed with. I guess a jackrabbit. 

[Maharincess]

@Bastet, this is my new grandkitty.  My daughter said she made herself right at home after sniffing every inch of their house for an hour.

Thanks @17wheatthins. There was really nothing else to name her with those ears. When she sleeps she wraps then around her face like a sleep mask. I'm trying to get a picture but every time I move she wakes up. 

[bilgistic]

Sweet babies! Congrats on the new companions, @Maharincess!

[DeLurker]

I suspect Bunny just hit the jackpot in her new home - she's adorable!

 

And the grandcat is so so fluffy!

[Mindthinkr]

I’ve just returned. I have missed all of you. Luckily my friend (who’s known my babies since they were 3 weeks old) came to stay at my house so their schedules wouldn’t be upset and they wouldn’t get depressed by not having enough attention. Mind you that she is allergic to cats but over the years has developed a tolerance for mine. She can’t groom them due to this but I’ll do them tomorrow after she leaves. They are on me like glue now. I went to go refill the bird feeder and my friend told me that girl cat went to the door and began crying loudly. I think that they missed me and the cuddles are so good (and the motors are loud). Gosh I love my critters and am grateful for my friend. 

Congradulations to all the new pet owners! 

[Bastet]

14 hours ago, Maharincess said:

this is my new grandkitty.  My daughter said she made herself right at home after sniffing every inch of their house for an hour.

She's so fluffy and pretty!  I'm glad she's out of the cage and happy in her new home.

@Mindthinkr, I'm glad you and the kitties are getting caught up on snuggles. 

[harrie]

Congratulations on the new family member, @Maharincess.  Such a cutie!

[NutMeg]

On 2/6/2018 at 6:02 PM, bosawks said:

It was a beautiful day to play hooky yesterday.

Play hooky? Isn't that what they do all year long, with your assistance? :)

[Maharincess]

I can finally post a picture of my grandkids!   They were with us when we went to the shelter and when I wanted to look at Bunny, I told the kids to sit with their hands in their laps and let her go to them, she ran right to them.  She's just too sweet. I love her so much already. 

[bosawks]

A mile into a walk she just had to go on this is the look I get....

[isalicat]

Greetings and a request for advice from all your cat-experts out there! As some of you may remember, we were adopted by Louis, an orange and white tabby of indeterminate age (shelter said 8 years old, my vet said at least 10....) a year ago. He had apparently been abandoned in a field outside the nearest town a few months before and before that had either been hit by a car or somehow mistreated as he has a wonky hip (the vet thought it might have been a glancing blow from a car that never healed properly) and skitters sideways rather than runs straight ahead. Otherwise he is perfectly healthy and playful and purry and loves to snuggle and sit on laps and eat, and eat, and eat (first cat I have had in a lifetime of many cats that I actually have to ration his food). Anyways, because of the hip problem or possibly because of age he can't reach the lower third of his back to groom it (he otherwise keeps himself in perfect cleanliness) so now the fur is somewhat clumped and matted. The area there also seems sensitive but he has allowed to examine it thoroughly and I don't see any irritation on the skin or growth of any sort. I have tried gently brushing but he really does not like to be brushed at all (could be part of his unfortunate past life). He doesn't smell at all (including on his back) but I still think I should probably clean the fur on his back somehow. Any suggestions for how to do this or whether to do it at all? I thought of taking him to vet but wanted your-all opinion first because going into the carrier is hugely stressful for him (I think he thinks he is being taken away from his now happy home...:( and he cries dreadfully so I'm avoiding vet trips unless absolutely necessary).

[Mindthinkr]

My big boy cat has this same issue. It’s not because of anything wrong with him other than he is overweight and just cannot reach. When the vet saw him in January she took a metal comb and just gently worked through some of the mattedness. He bites too because he doesn’t like to be groomed. He just likes copious head pets. I used to put a bag of Temptations down and would give him one after he would cooperate a bit. Now that I’ve learned they are like kitty crack I’ll have to consider another kind of treat (hopefully non-fattening). I know I haven’t given you a good option but I’d try starting with a comb. Good luck! 

[ABay]

@isalicat My untouchable grumpy old man cat was completely covered in matted fur by the end. When he first started getting them, I could sometimes gently tug and loosen them while he was eating, but during the last year they proliferated too much because he was too arthritic to groom himself much. The vet tech shaved them off. Maybe there's a groomer who makes house visits in your area? 

[DeLurker]

17 hours ago, isalicat said:

I have tried gently brushing but he really does not like to be brushed at all (could be part of his unfortunate past life)

Have you tried brushing/combing other areas of him or just the area he can't reach?  If you haven't tried other areas, I would start there so he gets used to the sensation.  A treat after sounds like it would be a big motivator for your guy.  If he gets more comfortable with it after a few times, start to venture in to the sensitive area a bit at a time.

Sir Robin was oh so friendly and agreeable when I adopted him (almost 2 years ago), but being brushed was a new sensation and unsettling for him at first.  It took a couple of short sessions before he got ok with it, but there were still parts of his body he didn't want me to do.  As he got more comfortable in the process, he allowed me to do the areas that were off limits before.  Now he comes running if he sees me going for the Furminator and plops himself down so I can brush him.

[Mindthinkr]

4 hours ago, DeLurker said:

Now he comes running if he sees me going for the Furminator

Oh that’s my girl cat to a T.  She will even go to the basket where it is kept and start meowing for me to groom her. Love that bonding time together. 

Edited February 12, 2018 by Mindthinkr
It needed a small correction.

[EighteenTwelve]

I have a very tolerant cat, apparently.  Lily is technically a shorthaired cat, but she's really more like medium, and occasionally she got a mat in the middle of her back.  She let me try to comb them out with an undercoat rake (no treats involved, just SCRITCH ME!), and when that didn't work, she let me cut them out with embroidery scissors.

[isalicat]

Thank you everyone for the excellent advice. Louis loves to have his head and neck petted and neck scratched and will reach out with his paw to get me to "hold hands" at least once a day but doesn't like to be touched anywhere else on his body (which is a real change from my previous cat, Mister Oh, who would flop over many times a day to get his belly rubbed and loved to be brushed - he was a long hair so really needed it frequently!). I guess I will try to get him accustomed to being gently brushed starting with his head and neck and then seeing if we can gradually work out way to brushing out the matted part - his fur is very short so I don't think we will have to resort to cutting quite yet. I have started petting him on his back just before feeding times (he eats little meals several times a day as per the vet's advice) so he can associate being touched with a reward. He is a biter though and very fast...

[Mindthinkr]

44 minutes ago, isalicat said:

I have started petting him on his back just before feeding times (he eats little meals several times a day as per the vet's advice) so he can associate being touched with a reward. He is a biter though and very fast...

That sounds like my Boy cat and how he got to be so fat. Demand feeding. Just be careful or else you’ll end up with a fat tub like mine (and dieting him now that he has been used to that is a royal pain in the derrière). 

[theredhead77]

@isalicat you may want to try a different brush. My kitten-cat doesn't care what kind of brush I use including the furminator. On the other hand, my cat-cat hates being brushed. I bought a new brush and now he loves it. The bristles in the original brush may have been hurting him.

[isalicat]

Hmmmm....what kind of brush would be best? I am using a people's hairbrush that seems fairly soft (nylon bristles) and being super gentle with it. Louis just doesn't seem to like being brushed at all but I am now doing just a couple of very light strokes from the back of his head downwards (but not near the matted area quite yet) when I give him food so he can associate the brushing with his favorite activity - eating. He doesn't get to eat on demand, except first thing in the morning when I get up - he is on a schedule of 1/3 to 1/2 of those tiny cans several times a day, not to add up to more than 2 tiny cans in an entire day and I do offer him a couple of bites of people food if he shows interest although he mostly goes for licking the plate if I have scrambled eggs with cheese. Again, unlike my previous cat, Louis is not so interested in chicken or meat (I only offer him plain cooked stuff without spices) - the only solid people food he likes is the really good albacore tuna packed in water which he gets a very little of every few weeks. He is about 1 lb. heavier than when he arrived a year ago but he was really undernourished then - he had been starving in the field where they found him and so he was scarfing down the dry food at the shelter and then throwing up constantly (the dry food being indigestible for him - he doesn't eat any dry food anymore).

[Bastet]

On 2/11/2018 at 12:58 PM, isalicat said:

I still think I should probably clean the fur on his back somehow. Any suggestions for how to do this or whether to do it at all?

They make wipes and sprays you can use to clean cats who can't/don't bathe themselves, but I've never used them and it doesn't really sound like it's necessary in his case.

I would work on getting the mats off before they cause a problem, and getting him used to brushing so you can prevent future ones from forming, and only worry about cleaning him if his ignoring that area seems to cause a problem even when the fur is brushed.

I use a slicker brush, but here's a rundown of the best uses of the most-common types of brushes.

[Mindthinkr]

@isalicat I got a horse faces brush which is pretty soft and girl cat loves it; even on her face and belly. Boy cat will tolerate it the most out of all the choices that I have bought. Sorry I can’t post links. 

[walnutqueen]

I have an old (and I do mean old - it was used on me when I was a child) natural bristle brush that is quite soft & gentle.  All my cats adored it.  My Babalu rubs his face on it so hard it hurts my wrists to hold the brush for him - and he drools all over it.

I have used all natural pet wipes for a couple of messy situations with an incontinent cat I fostered - they seemed to work well & did not irritate the sensitive skin.  I also used one of those little manual trimmers that looks like a comb with a recessed razor on his butt-feathers.  It was quick and didn't need to look pretty - it was much less stressful than a loud electric clipper/shaver.

[bilgistic]

Butt feathers! Are those the same as pantaloons?

[walnutqueen]

34 minutes ago, bilgistic said:

Butt feathers! Are those the same as pantaloons?

Kinda sorta, I think.

[Bastet]

48 minutes ago, bilgistic said:

Butt feathers! Are those the same as pantaloons?

I call them tail feathers (e.g. ugh, you have a dry poop stuck in your tail feathers).  And I call the feathered legs of bald eagles (I watch several wild nests via webcam) pantaloons.  We are all silly, heh.

[bilgistic]

I tell Little Girl she has a beautiful little round booty, so who am I to judge?

[emma675]

Ugh, I am kicking myself. Bonnie has a chew toy that can be unscrewed so you can add rawhide treats to it and parts of it have these plastic bristles (like a brush) that are supposed to massage her gums. She adores this toy and was chewing away at it while I sat and read. Not 10 minutes go by when I look over and realize she has gotten the toy unscrewed and is tearing apart the bristle bit. I have no idea if or how many of the bristles she ate. She shredded it apart so well I just can't tell. Now I'm worried she's got dozens of little plastic bristles in her gut. I'm going to have to go on poop patrol to see if any come out. 

[ABay]

Living with animals is nonstop glamour.

[DeLurker]

I bought Kook a raincoat since he needs to go out for walks whether it is raining or not.  I figured wiping down wet paws and a fluffy tail is a better choice than trying to towel dry the  whole fluffy dog.  I haven't tried it on him yet as I suspect he will not be thrilled.  Plus, I'll need someone to take a picture.

[EighteenTwelve]

The dog I grew up with was half Border collie and half Newfie, and got the hair for both.  He would go out in the rain for an hour or so and we'd stand in the mud room telling him to shake, and he never got the idea, because according to him, he wasn't wet.  The only time he considered himself wet enough to shake was if he went swimming.

[bosawks]

8 hours ago, DeLurker said:

I bought Kook a raincoat since he needs to go out for walks whether it is raining or not.  I figured wiping down wet paws and a fluffy tail is a better choice than trying to towel dry the  whole fluffy dog.  I haven't tried it on him yet as I suspect he will not be thrilled.  Plus, I'll need someone to take a picture.

Once Alli made the association that “coat” meant “walk” she was all in!

[harrie]

10 hours ago, DeLurker said:

I bought Kook a raincoat since he needs to go out for walks whether it is raining or not.  I figured wiping down wet paws and a fluffy tail is a better choice than trying to towel dry the  whole fluffy dog.  I haven't tried it on him yet as I suspect he will not be thrilled.  Plus, I'll need someone to take a picture.

 

The Boy Dog loves getting a towel rubdown when he's been out in the rain.  We make it like a towel massage, and he gets all wiggly underneath it as we work it down his back, then he gives a little shimmy and a shake.  Then he wants us to do it again. 

 

6 hours ago, EighteenTwelve said:

The dog I grew up with was half Border collie and half Newfie, and got the hair for both.  He would go out in the rain for an hour or so and we'd stand in the mud room telling him to shake, and he never got the idea, because according to him, he wasn't wet.  The only time he considered himself wet enough to shake was if he went swimming.

That sounds like a wonderful mix!

[emma675]

24 hours post potential bristle ingestion and two normal poops so far, eating normally and drinking fine. It's super glamorous stalking Bonnie as she poops and then checking it for bristles. None yet, but I don't know if that's good or bad. I'm convinced she ate at least some.

[DeLurker]

Alli looks like a superhero rushing to save the day!

I figured it would be best to try on the coat when it is actually raining so Kook gets the walk right after.  He's got a pretty good understanding of cause and effect, but is super stubborn some times.  Waiting for him to sit before I open the back door to let him out sometimes is a 10 minute event.  Shorter now that he's given up on trying to negotiate (he'd go sit in the family room as opposed to in front of the door in hopes that would suffice).

[theredhead77]

The kittencat and the catcat had a meeting to discuss their new play schedule. 2-3am and 5-6am. I am not happy. I play with them before bed to wear them out and sometimes they sleep through the night but every night for the last 2 weeks has been PLAYTIME. It would be fine if they were quiet and not hitting the bed frame but the kittencat is a chirper and announces every move so I get to be awake.

Then I try to kick them out, one of them (usually the catcat) will hide under the bed while the kittencat tries to pull my arm off.

[DeLurker]

Product Recall Alert:  People - Popular Dog Food Brands Recalled After Repeatedly Testing Positive for Euthanasia Drug

 

It's a pretty long list but Gravy Train, Kibbles & Bits, Skippy and Ol'Roy - canned wet food.

[walnutqueen]

1 hour ago, DeLurker said:

Product Recall Alert:  People - Popular Dog Food Brands Recalled After Repeatedly Testing Positive for Euthanasia Drug

 

It's a pretty long list but Gravy Train, Kibbles & Bits, Skippy and Ol'Roy - canned wet food.

That is SO fucked up.  :-(

[Mindthinkr]

2 hours ago, DeLurker said:

Product Recall Alert:  People - Popular Dog Food Brands Recalled After Repeatedly Testing Positive for Euthanasia Drug

 

It's a pretty long list but Gravy Train, Kibbles & Bits, Skippy and Ol'Roy - canned wet food.

Thank you for important nugget of information. I copied and pasted the article (since I can’t do links) to my fellow dog owning friends. 

How dare them!! 

[walnutqueen]

46 minutes ago, Mindthinkr said:

Thank you for important nugget of information. I copied and pasted the article (since I can’t do links) to my fellow dog owning friends. 

How dare them!! 

They have some 'splaining to do!

Like - how the fuckety fuck does THIS happen?!?

[Bastet]

4 minutes ago, walnutqueen said:

Like - how the fuckety fuck does THIS happen?!?

They're probably secretly using horse meat -- the horse is euthanized, so the drug is in its system, the meat is used in the cat or dog food, and, voila, trace amounts of the drug are now in the food.  (Those brands are all among the lowest-quality pet food options, so if the manufacturer was further maximizing profit by replacing some of what's supposed to be chicken or beef with horse meat, it wouldn't surprise me.)

[walnutqueen]

Just now, Bastet said:

They're probably secretly using horse meat -- the horse is euthanized, so the drug is in its system, the meat is used in the cat or dog food, and, voila, trace amounts of the drug are now in the food.  (Those brands are all among the lowest-quality pet food options, so if the manufacturer was further maximizing profit by replacing some of what's supposed to be chicken or beef with horse meat, it wouldn't surprise me.)

La la la la la la la - I can't HEAR you!!!  (Well, I don't want to, at any rate, because you are probably right).

GAH!!!

[Mindthinkr]

*Sobbing*

[bilgistic]

This isn't the first time this has happened, either. Phenobarbital (the euthanasia drug) was found in Evanger's branded food a year ago...for the same reason. There was a wide recall of several brands.

Please always check online for recalls before switching brands. Here's the link to the American Veterinary Medical Association's database of recalled food (easy to scroll through list of the last year). Here's the FDA archived database of previous recalls. That shows all recalls--human food and pet food--but if you search "[brand name of food] dog", you'll get the recalls, if any.

Edited February 16, 2018 by bilgistic

[smittykins]

Ken-L-Ration would straight-up admit it was made of horse meat.

[walnutqueen]

2 hours ago, smittykins said:

Ken-L-Ration would straight-up admit it was made of horse meat.

I am ever so glad I never saw this ad back in the day, and ever so glad I never fed my dogs Ken-L-Ration.  

[bilgistic]

Because everything is horrible, here's a picture from earlier today of Little Girl sleeping with her tongue sticking out.