The Everything Pet Thread
Posted by biodancer on Jul 04, 2008 · Member since Jul 2007 · 978 posts
I wanted to start this thread to be all about our pets. Ask questions, help answer questions, tell a funny story about something your cat/dog/ferret/bird/rat, etc did, update everyone on your pet's health, tell us about a new pet, vent, grieve, laugh, etc. I know I'll be posting here a lot and I hope you'll join me!
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Yeah, I've been planning on taking him in pretty soon just for an overall check up type thing. thanks for your input aml & shelloid!
i know it's been a number of weeks, but SOG, my (non-old) cat does the same thing, all the time. He's often pretty, er, stupid, so I took it to be a part of that. Maybe it is senility? It's something that dogs definitely get (and is better characterized in them), but I don't hear about it much for cats. Then again to a lot of people an "old" cat is 10.
I'm worried about Boo (my 18 yo kitty). For the last year or so he has been meowing excessively almost all of the time. It's not for food, he's always eaten in the morning and evening and if I offer him food he'll just leave it. Sometimes I think it's for attention, so I'll pick him up and bring him over with me for whatever I'm doing, but he'll just go back and sit in the kitchen or on the staircase and HOWL. His littermate passed away in January 2010 and I think that might have to do with it? I know he most definitely misses him, Rajah was his other half. I thought about getting another cat for him to play with so he won't feel so lonely, but I don't want to stress him out or have the possibility that they won't get along (Boo's never been around any cat other than Rajah). :( At night if I don't bring him in my room with me and close the door he'll (this is weird) sit at the bottom of the staircase and meow up it. The meowing gets really desperate sometimes and overall just breaks my heart because I don't know how to help him. Could this be an elderly cat thing? Has anyone had any experience with older kitties?
My mom's cat is, I don't know, like 50 years old and portrays a similar behavior. Sometimes, she'll wake up from a nap and start yowling, and won't stop 'till someone shows up to pet her for a moment. Same thing happens in the middle of the night, as my mom has told stories of jumping out of bed in the middle of the night to rush to the aid of what sounds like a cat being flogged to death, only to find it sitting in the dark, screaming into oblivion. Here's some info on Cat Dementia, but remember: it's from the internet, and therefore not necessarily factual.
http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/diseasesconditionscat/tp/feline-dementia.htm
I hope a trip to the vet comes soon! I think a follow up post would prove beneficial for readers in similar situations. Is cat-dementia treatable?
Is it okay for my puppy to have catnip?? He really seems to like it...he's always stealing the kitty toys
... i guess? as long as he doesn't eat too much of it (if he's eating it).
i didn't think it was supposed to affect dogs...
so Gary went to the vet today - first time that N has managed to finish work early enough to come with me...so he sat in the back of the car with her......and she YOWLED all the way there.
She normally meows a lot but just to prove a point she yowled and yowled!
So anyway, the only reason we'd taken her was because we're moving in a week and a half and we wanted to take her before we move.
We got her another steroid injection even though she's been eating ok. And she had a weigh in - she was 2.95kg this time (last time she was 3.01 and the time before 2.97) so we're ok with that. She's lost 15g in weight (about half an ounce) - but it could be that she had had a poop before the weigh in this time (she did a humongous poop yesterday that even I would have been proud of!) or she could have lost muscle mass.
The vet checked her heart rate (ok) and how her kidneys felt (small but ok) and was happy overall with how she looks.
Dr Kerry asked if we wanted her blood pressure checked - but we probably wouldn't treat even if it was high so we declined, so the vet warned us about the risk of high BP (stroke, sudden death, etc) - which scared me but I knew this anyway.
So all in all the vet appt was ok, and Gary so far is doing ok - generally still ignoring us, but sometimes playful, mostly sleeping. We do kind of forget that she's ill....so it will be really really tough hen she does eventually go.
I want to give Gary a great big yowl-y hug for being so good about maintaining her weight, but I probably couldn't get near her.
<3 Gary. I hope she handles the move well.
I'm worried about Boo (my 18 yo kitty). For the last year or so he has been meowing excessively almost all of the time. It's not for food, he's always eaten in the morning and evening and if I offer him food he'll just leave it. Sometimes I think it's for attention, so I'll pick him up and bring him over with me for whatever I'm doing, but he'll just go back and sit in the kitchen or on the staircase and HOWL. His littermate passed away in January 2010 and I think that might have to do with it? I know he most definitely misses him, Rajah was his other half. I thought about getting another cat for him to play with so he won't feel so lonely, but I don't want to stress him out or have the possibility that they won't get along (Boo's never been around any cat other than Rajah). :( At night if I don't bring him in my room with me and close the door he'll (this is weird) sit at the bottom of the staircase and meow up it. The meowing gets really desperate sometimes and overall just breaks my heart because I don't know how to help him. Could this be an elderly cat thing? Has anyone had any experience with older kitties?
My mom's cat is, I don't know, like 50 years old and portrays a similar behavior. Sometimes, she'll wake up from a nap and start yowling, and won't stop 'till someone shows up to pet her for a moment. Same thing happens in the middle of the night, as my mom has told stories of jumping out of bed in the middle of the night to rush to the aid of what sounds like a cat being flogged to death, only to find it sitting in the dark, screaming into oblivion. Here's some info on Cat Dementia, but remember: it's from the internet, and therefore not necessarily factual.
http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/diseasesconditionscat/tp/feline-dementia.htm
I hope a trip to the vet comes soon! I think a follow up post would prove beneficial for readers in similar situations. Is cat-dementia treatable?
Hi guys! I'm so sorry about never following up. I forgot that I posted about Boo in here! We took him to the vet in November and they found that he has Hyperthyroidism. He had lost some weight over the last 2 or 3 years, but we didn't even realize how much until we came across some old photos of him (he used to be overweight, now he's normal-skinny with a belly wobble). Our vet gave us many options for treatment, including switching him to "Hill's Science Diet y/d," which she assured us was the only dietary treatment option, so we went with the medication instead (methamizole).
We jam his pill inside his glucosamine support treats, which he has to take anyway and loves, so it has all been rather simple and easy. He is now back to meowing only in the morning for breakfast reasons, with sparse bouts of cougar moding.
He had a full blood panel taken and our vet said that besides his thyroid, everything else came back immaculate. So.. happy kitteee!
Hey, so I got my puppy Willy Wong when he was 5 weeks old, did the responsible thing and got him some shots from the pet store to give him at 6 weeks, they lady gave me a bunch of information like you can only start the series at certain times keep the shot cold til you give it etc. She however failed to mention that i was supposed to keep this certain number on every shot that i give him or the vet wont count them. so now I am having to start all over again... is it safe to start them at anytime and just keep going once every three weeks? or do i need to wait for a special week to start on? thanks guys
It's probably better to wait 2-3 weeks from the last shot to give the next one, especially if he's a small breed type of dog.
He is 20 lbs and 10 weeks old, i gave him the first one at 6 weeks, (just kept missing the pet store hours). so I should be safe now? thanks for the response fb.
yeah, it should be fine now. sounds like he'll be big!
my lord he is going to be!
http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/p480x480/428373_365685313462178_248664149_n.jpg
Here is Willy Wong on the lap of River who is a very average sized 5 year old. not too sure what his dad is, he wasn't caught in the act, but mom is a blonde long haired aussie sheppard.
my lord he is going to be!
http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/p480x480/428373_365685313462178_248664149_n.jpg
Here is Willy Wong on the lap of River who is a very average sized 5 year old. not too sure what his dad is, he wasn't caught in the act, but mom is a blonde long haired aussie sheppard.
I tried to hug my computer screen, but it wasn't as nice. :-D
My house is becoming the place rabbits come to die. Despite having two well fed dogs, they cannot resist the temptation to dig up rabbit nests lately and play tug of war with the bunnies. I am tired of this. If I catch them early, the rabbit is severely injured enough to be in pain and I feel I have to finish it off myself out of mercy. If I catch it later, I still have to pick up the sad little pieces. Any advice?
My house is becoming the place rabbits come to die. Despite having two well fed dogs, they cannot resist the temptation to dig up rabbit nests lately and play tug of war with the bunnies. I am tired of this. If I catch them early, the rabbit is severely injured enough to be in pain and I feel I have to finish it off myself out of mercy. If I catch it later, I still have to pick up the sad little pieces. Any advice?
you might not agree with my point of view but I don't think you should do anything about it. Cats and dogs are natural meat eaters, your dogs are only doing what they're born to do and that's hunt and eat raw meat.
My house is becoming the place rabbits come to die. Despite having two well fed dogs, they cannot resist the temptation to dig up rabbit nests lately and play tug of war with the bunnies. I am tired of this. If I catch them early, the rabbit is severely injured enough to be in pain and I feel I have to finish it off myself out of mercy. If I catch it later, I still have to pick up the sad little pieces. Any advice?
Maybe you can rearrange/install fences in such a way that the dogs still have room to run about but can't get to the rabbit holes?
Sadly, even if it weren't for my sympathy for the rabbits, I don't enjoy cleaning up rabbit-based dog barf at 3 am, so it is a problem on a few levels.
They're getting to a rabbit nest under the shed in my back yard, and I'm not sure why this is a thing this year, and was not last year. However, it must be a one-two punch, since the older dog was not as good at getting rabbits by herself!
Urgh, all the last posts I made were removed, so quick update for those who do not know. Gary left us on January 10th after a very very quick deterioration (around 12 hours). I don't think there's anything we could have done to prevent it, it was just her time.
She handled the move very well and loved her 2 months in our new home. Yet again it seemed to bring the best out in her, and we even started to get cuddles (or at least her sitting in out vicinity) towards the end.
I am still totally devastated by it and am even crying as I write this.
But on a more happy note.....we do have a new addition to our family! We have been sharing our house with Alan, our little boxer puppy for nearly 2 weeks. She was born on 7th April and was exactly 8 weeks old when she moved in with us.
Alan is amazing and very clever (apparently she was the first of the litter to do everything...walk, play properly, pee on the newspaper) and really very cute. I think we will love having her live with us.
But I do feel incredibly guilty about Alan being with us, and keep talking to Gary about it and how we're not replacing her and how she's still the best thing ever. I'm sure she knows that anyway, but it makes me feel better telling her every now and then.
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