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Should I be worried if my cats nose is unusually pale lately? It used to lose color randomly but only for a few minutes at a time. Now it's closer to white than pink. Emasculatrix posted:I use my own nail clippers on my cat...is that gross? It's gross to me. Cats use litter boxes and step in poop. When you cut her nails, you're getting that on the clippers and then on your nails. Think of the germs and bacteria you're getting on your hands... your hands you use to touch your face, hold utensils that put food in your mouth, rub your eyes, etc etc.
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Mar 3, 2011 04:48
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Lackadaisical posted:Should I be worried if my cats nose is unusually pale lately? It used to lose color randomly but only for a few minutes at a time. Now it's closer to white than pink. You never ever touch your cats paws?  It's really no different, in fact I think you'd have more chances of getting litter and poo particles on your hands by just touching/playing with their paws than clipping their nails with the same nail clippers you use. Same goes for touching the surfaces your cats walk on and remember you pet them and that is the same tongue that also cleans the poo that clings to their butt off. Hell I even take one of my kitty's paws and play with them against my face because they are so tiny and adorable and soft.  I don't see a huge problem if the cat is indoors only, up to date on shots, doesn't have worms, and visually a clean animal. Bottom line is, if you wash your hands before eating your Doritos and Mt.dew (since you're a goon and I'm assuming that is what you have for lunch everyday), you should be fine. There is a point about being too paranoid about germs.
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Mar 3, 2011 04:59
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I can't say I regularly touch my cats paws. The only time I really do is when I'm clipping her nails... Maybe I am being too paranoid about germs but it just seems a little unclean to me.
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Mar 3, 2011 05:05
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Well, I rarely use the clippers on my own nails (I just bite them short, or use the closest pair of scissors), so I'd guess any germs or bacteria would be long dead before I came in contact with it. My cat sticks her butt on my kitchen table every day, and my dog licks my face when I'm asleep...germs are like the least of my problems.
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Mar 3, 2011 05:37
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What's the best way to teach dogs to bark less? I've read that for the breed in question, they should be trained to bark once or twice when they see someone or something of interest and then stop, but how do you go about doing that?
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Mar 3, 2011 09:35
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uberwekkness posted:What's the best way to teach dogs to bark less? I've read that for the breed in question, they should be trained to bark once or twice when they see someone or something of interest and then stop, but how do you go about doing that? What kind of dog? Why is it barking? Here's a very basic set of points to keep in mind. Read them, they you can peruse the Dog Training Megathread for more ways to curb barking. - Crate training is highly recommended. If the dog has a safe den-like place where it can be confined during the day it will reduce the dog's desire to bark. -Limit your dog's access to windows or other bark-inducing stimuli when you're not around. You can train all evening, but if your dog is free to bark during the day you're not going to make much progress. Barking is a self-rewarding behaviour that is not going to extinguish on its own. -Limit your dog's access to a yard unsupervised. As said above, if your dogs are barking like crazy outside then you're going to be undoing much of the work you're doing inside. -Exercise! A lot of dogs bark when they're bored. They have pent-up energy and barking is the most obvious outlet for it. When they're understimulated they're going to make their own fun, and 98% of the time what a dog determines fun is not going to gel with living peacefully with humans. -Determine your dog's triggers so you can preempt barking fits. The fewer opportunities your dog has to repeat the behaviour the faster you'll be able to train it to live quietly. -Be consistent! Since some dogs like barking for the pure joy of it you're going to have to go out of your way to be consistent with your training. Don't slack off. The process of training your dog not to bark is a long and slow one. -Dogs bark to alert you of a disturbance. Sometimes it's helpful to acknowledge your dog's alert and then go back to business as usual. "Thank you Marlo, I see the mailman/car/dog/plastic bag."
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Mar 3, 2011 15:35
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Lackadaisical posted:I can't say I regularly touch my cats paws. The only time I really do is when I'm clipping her nails... If you pet your cat at all you're probably getting tons of germs on yourself. Litter dust, them licking themselves all over and the fact that cats have horribly filthy mouths, etc.
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Mar 3, 2011 15:45
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Emasculatrix posted:I use my own nail clippers on my cat...is that gross? We sometimes use our dinner plates as cat food plates...is that gross?
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Mar 3, 2011 16:08
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My cat walks on my pillows, I put my face on my pillows and she walks on her litter, with her nasty feet.AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH I just chucked her out the window.
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Mar 3, 2011 19:31
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ChairmanMeow posted:My cat walks on my pillows, I put my face on my pillows and she walks on her litter, with her nasty feet.AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH I just chucked her out the window. Ok, in all fairness, if your cat is like mine, that is gross. I've had to ban her from my pillows because she kept tracking poop footprints across my pillow.  And I'd find poo chunks covered in litter on them too. But ya ya, I get the point. Maybe it's just because I have an usually unclean cat. I had to give her a bath a couple of weeks ago because she managed to get runny poop all over the top of her head where it dried and stuck to the fur.
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Mar 3, 2011 19:58
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Anybody here have experience with anal gland issues? My dog was doing weird stuff a few weeks ago and the vet said her anal glands were HUGE. Shocking the vet huge. She expressed them and the weird butt stuff stopped. Well Ephy just did her weird sit and scooted and is licking her butt again, just 3 weeks later. I dont want to have the vet molest her butt at $40 every month. Is there anything I can do? I've heard it smells really foul, but is it safe to do at home? Totally gross but I want my dog happy and comfortable, especially if this is an issue that's going to come up over and over again. WTF are anal glands for anyway?
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Mar 3, 2011 20:35
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Blahhhh I wish the pet food megathread was still open right about now. I have a raging headache and I've been at the vet's for the last three hours so bear with me here. Savannah (1-yr-old dachshund mutt) was throwing up this morning and had bloody mucus in her poo, so off we went to the vet. They ran a bunch of blood tests, and apparently she's in the beginning stages of mild pancreatitis. The vet said her levels were only slightly elevated, so it's not as bad as it could have been, and put her on antibiotics and a very bland chicken and rice diet for 10 days, then she goes back to get rechecked after that. We were talking about what we feed her (Wellness puppy dry food and Wellness adult wet food), and she seemed to think this might have been caused by the puppy food? Because it has a higher fat content or something? I don't know, I was trying to get her to tell me what might have caused it, and what we might have to do about her diet after the 10 days are up, and she was being a little vague. I know I'm probably obsessing and worrying a lot right now and once they do more blood tests they'll have a better idea of what to do. I just feel really bad that we might have caused this by having her on this food. And man, I like Wellness, it gives her a really soft coat and she loves it too. But obviously if it's better for her to be on a prescription diet or something, we'll do that. Anyone else here have experience with this? Is a prescription diet one of the solutions? I'm about to do a bunch of googling, just thought I'd ask here first. I think I'm also freaking out a little more than I should be because my previous dog, the dog I pretty much grew up with, died of pancreatitis, and it was very sudden and ugly. Bonus pathetic puppy pix   She's almost absorbed all the sub-q fluids they gave her. Looked like she had a lopsided saddlebag there for awhile, it was adorably pathetic.
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Mar 3, 2011 20:40
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My cat has had most of his teeth removed (chronic gum infections) for a while now and because of this I've been feeding him only wet food. I used to be able to go out of town for a night or two and just leave him a large amount of dry food, but now I can't since I'm afraid he'll choke on it. Is there some kind of soft food that won't get gross if I leave it out? Also since he's had his teeth removed he's become a ridiculously ravenous eater. I kinda worry he'll eat everything I put out in one go.
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Mar 3, 2011 21:33
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Lackadaisical posted:Ok, in all fairness, if your cat is like mine, that is gross. I've had to ban her from my pillows because she kept tracking poop footprints across my pillow. Yeah I think your cat is defective, you should return it for a refund. Drunkboxer posted:My cat has had most of his teeth removed (chronic gum infections) for a while now and because of this I've been feeding him only wet food. I used to be able to go out of town for a night or two and just leave him a large amount of dry food, but now I can't since I'm afraid he'll choke on it. Is there some kind of soft food that won't get gross if I leave it out? Cats without teeth can still eat dry food. They don't generally chew it that much anyways even if they have teeth. Go ahead and leave some out for him. Also, he's probably eating more because it used to hurt a lot to eat, but now that his teeth are gone he has his appetite back
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Mar 3, 2011 21:40
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Levitate posted:
So he won't choke? He eats so drat fast I worry. He'll run up to dropped pieces of dog kibble and swallow them whole and it freaks me out every time. I'm sure you're right about the appetite being back but he takes it to absurd extremes. I've grown up with cats my whole life (this is the first toothless one, though) and I've never see one eat this fast. He eats like a dog.
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Mar 3, 2011 22:00
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probably not, if it worries you just feed him dry food for awhile when you can watch him e: I mean if you're really not comfortable with it then don't do it. I've never heard of a cat choking on dry food and it being a problem but do what you think is the best idea. If you really want to just leave wet food for him, you can get one of those timed wet food feeders. They'll probably have them at any local Petsmart, etc Levitate fucked around with this message at 22:05 on Mar 3, 2011 |
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Mar 3, 2011 22:03
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I'n an idiot and had no idea those existed. Kind of pricey though.
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Mar 3, 2011 22:21
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I just got a 10-11 month old dog from the shelter on Tuesday (pics to come in the Mutt thread tonight!) and was told that she was given a combination shot and may need the two boosters in the following weeks. From what I've read on a few sites (granted, these particular sites are for minimal vaccination), as long as the dog is older than 6 months, the one shot will provide all the immunity needed. Any thoughts on this? Would it be ok to take her around for socialization yet?
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Mar 3, 2011 22:21
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Levitate posted:Yeah I think your cat is defective, you should return it for a refund. I wish. She was a stray I took in and she was so tiny and cute I was sure she was a kitten. She waited until I was emotionally attached to reveal she's actually a ~10 year old cat who has asthma and arthritis and poops on her head. Every time someone posts a thread about how they found a cute kitten I just sit here going 
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Mar 4, 2011 00:21
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Gonktastic posted:WTF are anal glands for anyway? It's not terribly hard to manually express them on a small dog or cat, but you can do some damage by squeezing too hard or in the wrong place, so it's best to have your vet show you how (if they're comfortable with that). On big dogs, you have to actually stick your finger up the dog's rear end to empty them properly, so that's best left to your vet. Lixer posted:I just got a 10-11 month old dog from the shelter on Tuesday (pics to come in the Mutt thread tonight!) and was told that she was given a combination shot and may need the two boosters in the following weeks. From what I've read on a few sites (granted, these particular sites are for minimal vaccination), as long as the dog is older than 6 months, the one shot will provide all the immunity needed. It is safe for her to be around dogs you know are healthy and vaccinated, like if you wanted her to meet your friends' dogs or whatever, but I'd wait on dog parks/Petco/etc until after a booster. Chances are good that she's protected after just one vaccine, but the risk is thousands of dollars and potentially life-or-death consequences. It's probably better to be patient and play it safe.
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Mar 4, 2011 00:30
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Crooked Booty posted:They're basically just concentrated stink glands for scent marking. Because of their positioning, they're supposed to get emptied when the dog shits, i.e. the turd physically compresses them and forces that nasty liquid out. Sometimes animals have anal gland issues because their stool is a soft, so the glands don't get compressed properly. Other animals are just unlucky and have problems for no reason.
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Mar 4, 2011 00:39
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Neena posted:I just feel really bad that we might have caused this by having her on this food. It sounds like your vet was concerned about the fat levels in the puppy food. Since your dogs is 1 year old, she really doesn't need puppy food, so if your vet really thinks that was the culprit, they might be ok with you trying just regular adult Wellness food. The vet may also recommend a specific level of fat restriction, which could be met with either prescription low fat diets or certain over-the-counter diets, depending on how low the fat percentage needs to be.
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Mar 4, 2011 00:46
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Chaco posted:It sounds like your vet was concerned about the fat levels in the puppy food. Since your dogs is 1 year old, she really doesn't need puppy food, so if your vet really thinks that was the culprit, they might be ok with you trying just regular adult Wellness food. The vet may also recommend a specific level of fat restriction, which could be met with either prescription low fat diets or certain over-the-counter diets, depending on how low the fat percentage needs to be. Thanks for the insight. And yeah, we were planning to switch her off the puppy food but were gonna finish out this bag first. She just turned 1 (roughly, we're not exactly sure when she was born). If she doesn't have to go on prescription food that'd be great, so we'll see what the vet says when she goes back. I didn't think the puppy food had that high a fat content, but oh well. Never know what a dog's going to react to I guess. It's funny, she never gets people food, isn't overweight, doesn't get tons of treats or anything. We're trying to do all the right things dammit 
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Mar 4, 2011 01:59
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Gonktastic posted:Thanks for the answer. I've been doing reading and honestly her stool is quite solid so I think it's just her. She's a very very big dog and now i'm worried I'll have to take her in every few weeks to have them expressed. I'm alright with the idea of some gloves and vaseline, honestly, so I'll try to have them show me.
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Mar 4, 2011 04:50
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Waddley Hasselhoff posted:Also, $40 seems a little high. My place does it for about $15. If you don't want to do it yourself, perhaps there's a place near you like this one? I have no baseline for vet costs and for her health I've been willing to just hand out money. I'd love some ideas of what's reasonable. Of course, what's normal in Colorado or Indiana won't be close to what's normal for a coastal California town... everything here is more expensive. Of course, I watched a ton of videos last night and helped her out. I think I did a pretty decent job and she's WAY more comfortable... but constipated and seems to have sore muscles from our run yesterday. More problems, yay!
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Mar 4, 2011 19:39
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You could try calling around to any groomers in your area - some offer that service as well.
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Mar 4, 2011 22:24
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sooo my dog's poop has some red fabric in it. I know what toy its from, and I'm pretty sure he pooped out all of it. What are some signs I should look for just in case there's some left behind?
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Mar 5, 2011 00:38
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Fatty Patty posted:sooo my dog's poop has some red fabric in it. I know what toy its from, and I'm pretty sure he pooped out all of it. What are some signs I should look for just in case there's some left behind? Foreign body symptoms might include lethargy, vomiting, and dehydration. If you see any of those, take him to the vet.
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Mar 5, 2011 01:08
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Posting to seek help for my ~GF~. She has a very sweet half bull half dingo that constantly scratches. Things she's tried: -elimination diets -daily benadryl -(and now) hydroxyzine Her current diet is Limited Ingredients venison sweet potato food. Everything she's done has helped to a limited degree but the dog still scratches a lot. No hotspots, fur missing or anything like that, just lots and lots of itching. GF was really hoping the hydroxyzine would help. It's a lot more expensive than benadryl, but again, only a minor improvement. Any suggestions? She'd like to avoid steroids for side effects reasons but if that is the next step she'll consider it. Money is not a huge limitation but definitely a consideration for her.
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Mar 5, 2011 06:08
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Sten Freak posted:Everything she's done has helped to a limited degree but the dog still scratches a lot. No hotspots, fur missing or anything like that, just lots and lots of itching. GF was really hoping the hydroxyzine would help. It's a lot more expensive than benadryl, but again, only a minor improvement. If that's not working, your best bet for getting answers/solutions quickly is to see a veterinary dermatologist. They see itchy dogs and cats all day every day and will know what to try next. Steriods are definitely not your only option at this point.
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Mar 5, 2011 06:18
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Crooked Booty posted:With the elimination diets, how long has she tried them? It can take about three months on a strict diet to see good results, and during that period the dog can ONLY eat the limited ingredient food - no treats, chews, table scraps, etc. Did she do that? Just wanted to throw in anything else that goes in the mouth. Supplements, herbal remedies, doggie toothpaste... literally, ANYTHING that has any possibility of having protein in it. I'd even be hesitant about using the same toys.
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Mar 5, 2011 06:54
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Crooked Booty posted:Neutering is extremely effective at stopping spraying -- something like 90%+ of cats will simply stop. I believe studies have shown that the age of neutering has no effect on this outcome, so basically cats won't just spray out of habit. It's hormones. But because it's hormones, it can take a few weeks for everything to get out of his system, so I wouldn't panic yet. You should use an enzymatic cleaner on any pee spots. Some others may be just as good, but Nature's Miracle is the one that gets recommended all the time. It's getting pretty bad. He did it on the door mat, then on one of my bags, then on the couch. I'm really starting to think that he was neutered far too late, and he's spraying because it's what he's used to doing. We'll be visiting the vet tomorrow, so we'll see what they have to say about the whole thing.
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Mar 6, 2011 05:05
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Gonktastic posted:I live in an expensive area and chose the best reviewed vet. I like them a lot but I'm starting to get really fed up with the costs, quickly. We opted to get some extra vaccinations (they made them sound so awful) and when we took her back in for the booster they gave her an exam, despite the fact that she had been in 3 weeks and 1 week prior for other check ups. Follow up shot plus the tech exam was $60. Is this normal? Where I'm from (Houston) that's quite a normal price, pretty good actually. The vet has to do an exam to give any kind of vaccinations/boosters to be sure your pet is well and not going to have a reaction. Most vets have a cheaper "follow up" or "booster" exam price, so you might ask about that.
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Mar 6, 2011 15:45
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Crooked Booty posted:"HelloSailorSign posted:She did the elim diet for 6 weeks. The thing is right now, she is eating the venison and sweet potato and that's it. So unless she's allergic to one of those ingredients it doesn't appear to be food related. Sadly a week in the hydroxyzine seems to be less effective than benadryl. Does anyone have experience with Atopica?
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Mar 6, 2011 17:21
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melon cat posted:It's been about 2 weeks since he was neutered, and he's still spraying around the house. Have you been doing the nature's miracle thing? It might help to clean the house top to bottom and use nature's miracle everywhere and anywhere he has sprayed anything.
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Mar 6, 2011 17:23
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Eggplant Wizard posted:Have you been doing the nature's miracle thing? It might help to clean the house top to bottom and use nature's miracle everywhere and anywhere he has sprayed anything. Also, perhaps try cat attract litter, although people use it a lot more for defecation issues, a little extra couldn't hurt. Sten Freak, I had a friend with a cat who was immune compromised that was on Atopica, and it seemed to help with the general skin issues, probably worth talking to your vet about. If I remember right, though, it was pretty expensive.
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Mar 6, 2011 18:38
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Neena posted:Blahhhh I wish the pet food megathread was still open right about now. I have a raging headache and I've been at the vet's for the last three hours so bear with me here. Came here to post something about our male cat and noticed your post. I came across a lot of stories about wellness cat food giving their cats problems (usually wellness core). It usually just has to do with urinary blockage, I think it had something to do with high phosphorus. It saddens me to know that the good quality pet food you spend so much on might actually be the problem. I tried to see if there was anything on dogs developing problems, but it mostly just has to do with wellness core. You can try searching it yourself to see if you find anything. I actually wanted to post about what I found on pet nutrition as well, but they closed the thread.
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Mar 6, 2011 21:10
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Our male neutered cat (about 2 yrs old) cries a lot and if given the opportunity, will try to run out of the house if you leave the door open too long. We've also had times where we left our balcony door open by accident and if you try to get him, he instantly jumps on the rail and tries to jump somewhere else (like down below to a tree or on the roof). Scares the crap out of me. We aren't too high up (only second floor), but he can still get really hurt. He will at times (still rare) mount one of our female cats. He bites her neck and will then do humping motions. Also strange thing we found out - I noticed that if you breathed loudly, like making a huffing sound, he'll start doing it himself and get really hyper. When he gets like this, the females start hissing and growling. He'll then attack them, like play fight. He's acting like he's not neutered. My boyfriend had him neutered when he was almost a year old even though I bugged him about it like crazy to get it done at an earlier age. He also had one undescended ball if that matters :P (should point out that it's gone, not that he still has the undescended ball). Our female cats are spayed. He also dry humps when kneading lol. daynip fucked around with this message at 21:44 on Mar 6, 2011 |
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Mar 6, 2011 21:23
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daynip posted:Came here to post something about our male cat and noticed your post. I came across a lot of stories about wellness cat food giving their cats problems (usually wellness core). It usually just has to do with urinary blockage, I think it had something to do with high phosphorus. It saddens me to know that the good quality pet food you spend so much on might actually be the problem. I tried to see if there was anything on dogs developing problems, but it mostly just has to do with wellness core. You can try searching it yourself to see if you find anything. I actually wanted to post about what I found on pet nutrition as well, but they closed the thread. Our vet also told us to avoid Wellness wet food with our cat who suffers from crystals. We wanted to supplement his Science Diet Rx with some quality wet food (not just the prescription stuff, which he isn't crazy for) because he was getting bored of kibble and snubbing it. I was under the impression that MOST wet food (low ash, non fish, etc) is OK, but she said she's seen people come back in with blockage problems from Wellness.
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Mar 6, 2011 22:27
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Wonder Bra posted:Our vet also told us to avoid Wellness wet food with our cat who suffers from crystals. We wanted to supplement his Science Diet Rx with some quality wet food (not just the prescription stuff, which he isn't crazy for) because he was getting bored of kibble and snubbing it. I was under the impression that MOST wet food (low ash, non fish, etc) is OK, but she said she's seen people come back in with blockage problems from Wellness.  That explains why my cat who went from Purina to Wellness suddenly ended up with crystal problems.
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Mar 7, 2011 16:54
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