Pet(s): Photos & Discussion

[ratgirlagogo]

17 hours ago, smittykins said:

 I don’t judge her at all for surrendering her—I know she made the right choice for her—but I admit that I wonder why.

Maybe he/she died and the children hate cats. Maybe he/she went into assisted living which doesn't always allow pets - or worse became homeless - shelters for humans never allow pets, at least around these parts.  So it could be horribly sad for the person.

Or maybe they were just an asshole.  Take your pick, I guess.  

[smittykins]

When I adopted my previous cat China(from a then-coworker), she later told me that she “felt like a jerk for getting rid of her.”  I reassured her that if she truly were a jerk, she would’ve just tossed her out on the street to fend for herself.

[Mabinogia]

I never judge anyone for re-homing a pet, same as I wouldn't judge a mother for putting their child up for adoption. Even if you have horribly selfish reasons for not wanting to keep your pet, maybe you don't like getting up to take the dog for a walk, or you don't like how the litter box goes with your decor. Whatever the reason, it is always better to find a pet a new home than to keep it and hate it. It is better for the animal to try a new family than stay with one who doesn't want it. 

My childhood dog had been left tied in the yard of a family that moved out, abandoning her. Their neighbors saw that the dog was still there after the family had clearly moved out and took her in, but their kids were too rough for the clearly abused dog so they put an ad in the paper. They were giving her away to anyone the dog wasn't afraid of basically. Rags was very timid and skiddish. 

My mom me and my cousin showed up to see her. She was a mess and wouldn't come near us. Mom said sorry but we couldn't take the dog, since the dog wouldn't let us near her. When we went to leave Rags ran into the car and sat between me and my cousin. And we had her for the next 16 years. Best dog I ever had. 

I hate the people who left her tied up but I admire the family who took her in, realized she wasn't going to do well in their house and found her a better home. She's been gone over 20 years (YIKES!) and I still miss her. She was my best friend growing up. 

[Jaded]

17 minutes ago, Mabinogia said:

My mom me and my cousin showed up to see her. She was a mess and wouldn't come near us. Mom said sorry but we couldn't take the dog, since the dog wouldn't let us near her. When we went to leave Rags ran into the car and sat between me and my cousin. And we had her for the next 16 years. Best dog I ever had.  

 

Edited June 22, 2019 by Jaded

[JTMacc99]

Norman Jake Macc took a nice nap on the way to my home this morning and then posed for some photos. 

[Mindthinkr]

1 hour ago, JTMacc99 said:

Norman Jake Macc took a nice nap on the way to my home this morning and then posed for some photos. 

You are adorable Norman Jake Macc! Welcome to your new loving home. You are a lucky little pup. Enjoy it JT, while you can still get photos of him napping a lot. Soon, lol, he’ll be making havoc. 

Edited June 22, 2019 by Mindthinkr
Punctuation

[emma675]

Norman!! Look at that happy, fuzzy puppy face!

[Annber03]

Oh, my god, that second picture :D! I just want to hug him!

[Browncoat]

So fluffy!

[MargeGunderson]

Norm!

(someone had to do it)

Edited June 22, 2019 by MargeGunderson

[Bastet]

Today is the third anniversary of Riley's adoption.  The scaredy cat who, after five months hiding inside a box in her shelter cage, would dart back under the office couch every time I left the room and literally slept with one eye open because she was so on guard has long since made herself perfectly at home, but it still warms my heart to see her lounging around the house when I remember having to open it up to her one room at a time over a period of weeks. 

[Bastet]

Edited June 25, 2019 by Bastet

[bilgistic]

Neapolitan toe beans!

[Bastet]

Sorry for two posts; it kept giving me an error message even though the total file size was well under the stated max.

Oh, holy hell, and now this one didn't merge, so it's three posts.  I give up.  Here's another photo to make it worthwhile:

Edited June 25, 2019 by Bastet

[Mindthinkr]

4 minutes ago, Bastet said:

Hey Mom...”Why are you aiming that camera at me?” LOL 

You have a cutie on your hands. 

[Bastet]

On 6/24/2019 at 7:49 PM, Mindthinkr said:

Hey Mom...”Why are you aiming that camera at me?” LOL 

That could be the caption for SO MANY pictures of her.  There are numerous times when she's asleep in an adorable pose, and as I (briefly, as I have no camera skills) futz around to get a good shot, she wakes up and looks at me like, "Again, paparazzo?"  So that's the pose I get.  Perpetually annoyed myself, I rather like it.

My absolute favorite picture of that ilk is included below, when, during my attempt to capture Maddie sleeping on the top tier of her perch, she woke up, stood up, and glared at me.  The photo I shot at the end of that process is captioned "Why Are You Disturbing My Nap"?  I think it's the only time in 15 years she ever gave me a dirty look, and it cracks me up.

In other pet news, my mom's best friend - whom I've known all my life, as they've been best friends since they were neighbors as little kids - was at my parents' house this weekend for a visit and I went over last night to join in.  As another animal person, she and I talked a lot about our pets.  She has two dogs, one domesticated cat, and one feral cat she has been feeding for 14 years (and whom she got fixed and vaccinated way back then) who sometimes comes in the house - the other cat and dogs are indoor/outdoor, so there's always access between house and backyard (that the dogs can't get out of and the cats can if they put effort into it) - but who's one of those where even after all this time it's just talking and feeding, no touching.

Her feral, Chub, had been missing for two months; the cat virtually never went out front, so she didn't think being hit by a car was likely, and, although a rural area, they have fewer coyotes than I do here in a close-in suburb, so she wasn't sure what had happened (there is a cat hoarder down at the end of the road, so relocating was a possibility, but after all this time?) but was obviously quite sad.

My mom just called to say the friend had emailed to report she made it home just fine, and ALL pets were happy to have her back -- Chub was waiting for her on the porch!  Quite a bit thinner than usual, but no visible wounds.  It would be great if this misadventure prompts her to, in her golden years, not only never leave the backyard again, but retire indoors.  Regardless of her obstinate choices, she's back where she'll always be loved and taken care of the best she'll allow.

Edited June 29, 2019 by Bastet

[bilgistic]

That is a very dirty look! Maddie was beautiful.

[Mindthinkr]

@Bastet I love Maddie’s long fur. She is lovely. It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one who has trouble getting a good photo. 

I’m so happy that the Chub story had a happy ending. It’s worrisome when they go off and don’t show up at the door for normal feeding times. Coyotes are an issue here. So much so that I had to retrain my island cats to become indoor kitties. I don’t miss the animal entrails, although they love to look out the sun porch and dream of meals that will never be. There weren’t any squirrels on the island either so they also like to watch them eating at the bird feeder. The deer they aren’t too sure about. 

[smittykins]

I don’t know how many tries it took for me to get the photo of Shadow at the back door.  I’d grab my phone, try to frame the shot, and she’d jump down.  I finally realized that was as good as it was going to get.

[JTMacc99]

Puppy doing goofy puppy things.  

[Browncoat]

1 minute ago, JTMacc99 said:

Puppy doing goofy puppy things.  

We need a reaction button that's stronger than just like.  This video is freakin' adorable!

[JTMacc99]

45 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

We need a reaction button that's stronger than just like.  This video is freakin' adorable!

Before I turned it into a GIF, it also had tiny puppy growling sounds.  Not sure what that toy did to get him worked up, but it did.

Later in the morning he turned on the Roomba. I guess he felt we could use a vacuuming. (He wouldn't be wrong about that.)

[emma675]

How are the other animals in the house reacting to him? I love it when puppies are bounding around, throwing themselves randomly at toys, but I can't imagine the cat feels the same way.

[theredhead77]

I judge the shit out of people who abandon their pets, like the cat-cats prior hooman and the assholes who left that poor dog tied up, wondering where it’s hoomans went off to and what they did wrong. They can all rot in hell with other animal abusers.

In other news Butterscotch is adorable!!!!!

[JTMacc99]

17 hours ago, emma675 said:

How are the other animals in the house reacting to him? I love it when puppies are bounding around, throwing themselves randomly at toys, but I can't imagine the cat feels the same way.

The older dog Neo doesn't seem to mind. He has to explain to the puppy that he's not allowed to just come in and try to eat his treats, but other than that, it's just standard pack dynamics to the dog.

The cat... she's not overly excited about the new energy in the house.  She kind of liked it when there were two old dogs, one who didn't care about her and another one she could beat up. (Neo is frequently the target of her play.)  This new guy... she's not a fan. 

[bilgistic]

Here are some delicious cocoa beans for you to snack on today.

[ginger90]

I know nothing about birds, but my grandson sent me this picture. He’s visiting his great grandmother in Virginia. Thought I’d share.....

[Moose135]

We've taken some obedience classes with Jake the past month, and he graduated last night!

[Browncoat]

That Hyacinth Macaw is gorgeous!  Unless it's a Norwegian Blue Parrot, pining for the fjords.

Congratulations to Jake, @Moose135!

[ginger90]

1 hour ago, Browncoat said:

That Hyacinth Macaw is gorgeous!  Unless it's a Norwegian Blue Parrot, pining for the fjords.

Congratulations to Jake, @Moose135!

Just spoke with him and asked. He is indeed a hyacinth macaw . 👍

[bilgistic]

Jake looks a little like he's not entirely sure why he's there or what's going on. "Adolescent class graduation" made me laugh.

Did anyone not graduate or get held back to repeat the class?

[Moose135]

8 hours ago, bilgistic said:

Did anyone not graduate or get held back to repeat the class?

No, everyone graduated, some just did better than others.  Jake really did well.

[harrie]

Congratulations to Jake! 

We took one of our dogs through school three times; it took a while for the whole idea that she listen to us to take hold, but it was totally worth the extra work.  (She was a really smart dog, just dominant and completely untrained/wild when we got her at 6 months.)

[Mindthinkr]

3 minutes ago, harrie said:

Congratulations to Jake! 

We took one of our dogs through school three times; it took a while for the whole idea that she listen to us to take hold, but it was totally worth the extra work.  (She was a really smart dog, just dominant and completely untrained/wild when we got her at 6 months.)

Then congratulations to you as well for preservering through obedience school three times to get your dog trained. 

[harrie]

Well, thank you, @Mindthinkr!

[bosawks]

This is the look you get when you can’t make the thunder stop.....

[Mindthinkr]

At least Alli isn’t hiding under the bed the way that the Mindthinkr kitties do. ⛈

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, Mindthinkr said:

At least Alli isn’t hiding under the bed the way that the Mindthinkr kitties do. ⛈

That's what Maddie did.  She was a mellow, go-with-the-flow cat, but hated noises from above: thunder, aircraft flying over, and fireworks were the three things in the whole world that scared her.  Aircraft didn't bother her in the house (and we were never under a commercial flight path, so it's just helicopters or small private planes), but if we were outside and one flew over, back inside she went until it passed.  With thunder or fireworks, she went under the bed, and when the noise stopped, she'd poke her head out, but wouldn't bring the rest of her out until it remained stopped for about 20 minutes. 

[Mindthinkr]

Happy Happy Birthday to @AgentRXS

Wishing you the very best of days. Hugs and purrs from the Mindthinkr kitties. 

P.S. Big Boy wants a taste of your Birthday cake. 

[Sandman87]

Kitten Invasion Update

On Saturday one of the little grey monsters barged into the house and refused to leave. The other one followed while I was trying to shoo the first one out. I gave up. They're my kittens now. Going to give them a couple of weeks before taking them to the vet for the first time.

I'm just barely able to tell them apart by slightly different coloring. The brave one is darker, especially his tail. Not sure whether the shy one is male or female since I can't get close enough to tell, so I'm going with female for now.

I need to come up with names for them. I'm calling them "the Twins" for now.

There has been much scampering around and pouncing since I surrendered. The brave one has already decided that I'm OK, so we're friends now, with purring and playing and stuff. Last night I had both of them and Catsby snoozing on the bed with me.

Calypso still wants nothing to do with them. Not surprising, since she barely tolerates Catsby.

The old cat toys still work, particularly the plastic bottle cap that's hanging in my bedroom doorway by a string about 16" off of the floor. An old length of frayed rope makes for a good tug-of-war session.

Edited July 1, 2019 by Sandman87

[AgentRXS]

On 6/30/2019 at 10:30 AM, Mindthinkr said:

Happy Happy Birthday to @AgentRXS

Wishing you the very best of days. Hugs and purrs from the Mindthinkr kitties. 

P.S. Big Boy wants a taste of your Birthday cake. 

Awww thanks @Mindthinkr! Big Boy is so irresistible, he can have all the cake he desires! 

[bosawks]

Alli is not loving the new addition to the family......

[MargeGunderson]

@Sandman87, I’m picturing that the whole thing went down kind of like this:

[harrie]

9 hours ago, Sandman87 said:

Kitten Invasion Update

On Saturday one of the little grey monsters barged into the house and refused to leave. The other one followed while I was trying to shoo the first one out. I gave up. They're my kittens now. Going to give them a couple of weeks before taking them to the vet for the first time.

I'm just barely able to tell them apart by slightly different coloring. The brave one is darker, especially his tail. Not sure whether the shy one is male or female since I can't get close enough to tell, so I'm going with female for now.

I need to come up with names for them. I'm calling them "the Twins" for now.

There has been much scampering around and pouncing since I surrendered. The brave one has already decided that I'm OK, so we're friends now, with purring and playing and stuff. Last night I had both of them and Catsby snoozing on the bed with me.

Calypso still wants nothing to do with them. Not surprising, since she barely tolerates Catsby.

The old cat toys still work, particularly the plastic bottle cap that's hanging in my bedroom doorway by a string about 16" off of the floor. An old length of frayed rope makes for a good tug-of-war session.

Congratulations on the new additions @Sandman87.  For what it's worth, we got our first kitten  when we bought Halloween pumpkins at a farm that was giving away kittens.  One of the kittens (also gray, like a Russian Blue) came tearing around the corner, stopped square in front of the hub, and meowed.  Of course he came home with us - the hub is a well-known cat magnet -- and he turned out to be the best cat ever.  I hope you have a similar experience. 

 

[bosawks]

Happy 4th!

[theredhead77]

@JTMacc99 we need pictures of Butterscotch and @Moose135 we need pictures of Jake! It needs to be a 4th of July puppy photo-off!

[JTMacc99]

Norman is always ready for the camera 

[emma675]

Omg, fuzzy puppy is so fuzzy!!

[ABay]

There's a sick finch in one of my feeders, and I'm not sure what to do. It was there all night, didn't fly away even when I was a few inches from it, and I couldn't see its eyes. It probably has the eye disease finches are prone to.

I can take down the other feeders and clean them today, but what to do with the sick little bird? Other finches are avoiding the feeder it's in. I'm ok with leaving it there, but if I take down the other feeders will other finches go to that one and get infected?

Cornell and other bird sites are not helping with the question of what to with an in situ sick bird.

Update: The bird finally left about half an hour ago, poor thing. As soon as I saw it was gone, I went out and emptied all of the feeders and set them on the driveway to clean later. Cornell et al say to leave them down for a few days. There should be enough for them all to eat since the mulberry trees are full and walnuts have been dropping for more than a week.

One more reason to loathe summer: Fewer kinds of birds in the yard. Cardinals, downie and red-bellied woodpeckers, catbird, bluejays, goldfinches, grackles, mourning doves, pigeons, cowbirds sparrows, and finches are still around but I miss the nuthatch, chicadees, titmice, and wrens.

Edited July 7, 2019 by ABay

[raven]

1 hour ago, ABay said:

Cornell and other bird sites are not helping with the question of what to with an in situ sick bird.

If something similar happens again, check for a wildlife rehabilitator in your area.  They can give advice and some may take the bird if necessary, probably after waiting if out for a short period. Hopefully the bird recovered on its own, since it was strong enough to fly away.