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Photos! "You can't see me! I'm a puddle of darkness." "Ack!" The wooden spoon has some treats on it. We haven't yet got to the point where she'll eat in front of us or let us touch her, but she did eat them after I left the room. (So far she only eats a whole bowl of food at night while we're sleeping.) Also, last night we left the door of the room open so she could explore the apartment. We left a small bowl with some treats on as a test of whether she actually went out. They were gone in the morning!
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# ? Sep 18, 2019 23:06 |
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# ? May 13, 2024 10:59 |
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yay!
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# ? Sep 18, 2019 23:14 |
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Aw, what a good inky void. She'll get there!
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# ? Sep 19, 2019 00:11 |
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I've been fostering this cat for 6 months and he still hasn't found a home cause no one wants an ugly abandoned adult boy, and I leave the country next year. I don't know what I can do and if he goes back to the foster home they'll have to basically keep him in a pound situation for god knows how long. He's so affectionate and attached to me and I don't want him to get thrown on the streets again. How do I get this cat adopted?
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# ? Sep 19, 2019 09:32 |
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coolusername posted:I've been fostering this cat for 6 months and he still hasn't found a home cause no one wants an ugly abandoned adult boy, and I leave the country next year. I don't know what I can do and if he goes back to the foster home they'll have to basically keep him in a pound situation for god knows how long. He's so affectionate and attached to me and I don't want him to get thrown on the streets again. Sounds to me like he already has been. Take him with you overseas.
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# ? Sep 19, 2019 09:44 |
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Can't, I'm traveling for my job and I wouldn't even finish getting him through Australian customs before I'd be moving on again. I'm not in a career where I can keep pets with me long term.
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# ? Sep 19, 2019 09:58 |
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coolusername posted:I've been fostering this cat for 6 months and he still hasn't found a home cause no one wants an ugly abandoned adult boy, and I leave the country next year. I don't know what I can do and if he goes back to the foster home they'll have to basically keep him in a pound situation for god knows how long. He's so affectionate and attached to me and I don't want him to get thrown on the streets again. You're fostering through an organisation, right? Just explain the situation to them. It definitely happens that people lose the ability to foster due to moving / landlords / whatever. They should be able to transfer your foster to another foster home (assuming he doesn't get adopted). Also I assure you people will adopt ugly cats. Pretty much the only cats that are hard to adopt are ones that pee everywhere.
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# ? Sep 26, 2019 05:53 |
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In other fostering news, my partner and I were out at a party in a park on Saturday, and a woman wandered by with a cat carrier containing a 1yo mother and two kittens. My partner intercepted her and talked with her a bit, then came to where I was talking with another friend of ours (who has also fostered for the same org). So we all go over to the kittens. Turns out the woman has a whole lot of animals, but is super poor and can't afford to keep them, or to get all of them spayed. This was the momma cat's second litter. The woman had just been to the SPCA, who told her they weren't taking cats at this time (wtf?), but she'd already said her goodbyes to them, so she was just wandering the park looking for people to give them away to. So yeah, we were straight into foster-mode and figuring out how to get them into the system. We currently have our very shy foster, or we would have offered to take them. Fortunately our friend didn't have any current fosters, so was all "welp, guess I'm fostering again". She took them home, got them into the operations centre the next day for a health assessment, and has been posting tons of photos on Facebook and Instagram. She also had to do a FB post along the lines of "Stop trying to adopt these cats, they're not ready. Go adopt one of these ones from the same organisation that are ready." lol
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# ? Sep 26, 2019 06:02 |
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there is a suspicious lack of photographic evidence of these "kittens"...
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# ? Sep 26, 2019 07:35 |
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Elranthan posted:there is a suspicious lack of photographic evidence of these "kittens"... OK fine, you made me dig these images out of Facebook. (It was worth it. Enjoy the kittens!)
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# ? Sep 28, 2019 06:23 |
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:3
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# ? Sep 28, 2019 06:42 |
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Lead out in cuffs posted:You're fostering through an organisation, right? Just explain the situation to them. It definitely happens that people lose the ability to foster due to moving / landlords / whatever. They should be able to transfer your foster to another foster home (assuming he doesn't get adopted).
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# ? Sep 28, 2019 07:13 |
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Lead out in cuffs posted:OK fine, you made me dig these images out of Facebook. /Grown man makes squeee noise.
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# ? Sep 28, 2019 08:53 |
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Maybe people are worried they won't be able to tell two black cats apart? That is kinda weird. I signed up for cat fostering with the local humane society but they keep sending me available puppy information instead (even though I specifically signed up for cat/kitten and said I couldn't manage dogs in my application...) which is a bit disheartening. I should probably try contacting them again, even though they haven't responded to my other emails.
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# ? Oct 7, 2019 05:20 |
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mistaya posted:Maybe people are worried they won't be able to tell two black cats apart? That is kinda weird. reminds me a little of this classic pic;
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# ? Oct 7, 2019 05:52 |
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mistaya posted:I signed up for cat fostering with the local humane society but they keep sending me available puppy information instead (even though I specifically signed up for cat/kitten and said I couldn't manage dogs in my application...) which is a bit disheartening. I should probably try contacting them again, even though they haven't responded to my other emails. It's worth trying a phonecall. I know our foster coordinator (and the organisation in general) are perpetually busy and overworked.
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# ? Oct 7, 2019 06:56 |
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Bathsheba progress: she now responds to treats, and will half-emerge from her pillow fort to get them. She also sometimes comes out to her food bowl while I'm in the room and on the computer. We've also seen/heard her coming out to feed during the day. Baby steps, but steps nonetheless!
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# ? Oct 7, 2019 07:05 |
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I just took in a couple of stray 5-6 week old kittens yesterday. I set them up in a roomy closet type area. So far they are still hissing at me if I get too close but they are also venturing out of their hiding places to eat while I’m in the room now. It appears that one of them is using the litter box and the other is using the carpet. Is this the kind of thing that works itself out eventually or is there something I should be doing?
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# ? Oct 10, 2019 02:37 |
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que sera sera posted:I just took in a couple of stray 5-6 week old kittens yesterday. I set them up in a roomy closet type area. So far they are still hissing at me if I get too close but they are also venturing out of their hiding places to eat while I’m in the room now. It appears that one of them is using the litter box and the other is using the carpet. Is this the kind of thing that works itself out eventually or is there something I should be doing? in terms of them not liking human contact, this video might help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcD8DrJKejQ because of how young they are, it shouldn't take too long for the litter issues, someone else might be a better help. That said, this is probably better suited for the general cats thread
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# ? Oct 10, 2019 04:42 |
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My girlfriend and I just got a new pup! She's a real sweety we got from a rescue just last Thursday--a three year old Australian Cowherd/Bluetick Coonhound mix, and overall she's been great. It sounds like she's been through some tough spots (apparently the shelter she was at gave her a late term abortion and then immediately neutered her, all less than a month ago, so I have no idea where her hormones are even at right now), but she's an incredible sweety with very few behavioral issues. This is our first dog, and we've been doing mountains of research for the last many months, but we do have a few questions for the thread! She's been really calm the vast majority of the time that she's in the apartment--she seems completely housebroken and is pretty easy to train. She's had one act of destruction--she was laying on the couch with my girlfriend's macbook and seemingly just casually severed the white power cord that was dangling in her face. That's not ideal, but we feel pretty good about keeping it from happening again with a mix of training and some dogproofing the apartment. The first of the issues we're struggling with, though, is that her prey drive is pretty over the top when she goes outside. She gets hyperfocused on squirrels (and to some extent pigeons and cats, not at all to anything her size or bigger) when we take her out for walks. Generally this just takes the form of a laser focused stare on any squirrel within 100 feet that she's noticed, to the point where she'll full blown even ignore treats put directly in front of her nose as an attempted distraction. If I notice in the moment she sees the squirrel I can usually distract her, but once she gets in the zone it's pretty unbreakable. She's only lunged once or twice, at squirrels that were just a few feet away, but it's still something we're worried about. She'll also go pretty nuts at any fly that comes in the window. The first time she saw one she caught it pretty fast and we were so surprised that we ended up praising her (and then immediately realized that was probably a mistake). She hasn't shown any destructive behavior so far when left alone, but we are worried about what could happen if she gets too wild flychasing around the apartment while we're gone. What's the general consensus on how to deal with prey drive heavy dogs? We're ramping up her training on 'stay' and 'look at me', but is her squirrel fixation something we should be trying to minimize? Or is this just part of having a hunting/herding dog and is letting her stare at squirrels and chase down flies just some enrichment? She certainly does seem at her absolute happiest bouncing around the house snapping her jaws at a fly. The second thing we're worried about is her licking. She's pretty reserved and quiet so far--even bordering a bit on morose. Like I said, she's a rescue, so we aren't too worried about this so far, and it seems like it's getting better day by day. That said, she has been doing a lot of self-grooming, in a way that feels a little unhealthy. To the point where she'll be playing with a toy or something and, like a switch is going off inside her, will just suddenly snap and stop and go into a bit butt, tail, or paw licking fit. Our running theory is that it's probably just anxiety, which is to be expected in a rescue who's been in our home for less than a week, and that it'll go away with time. It hasn't really been lessening, though, and we're starting to wonder if it could be something else. She was at the vet just before we got her, but is there something we should be doing about this to make sure it's not something medical or pest related?
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# ? Oct 14, 2019 19:32 |
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OtspIII posted:My girlfriend and I just got a new pup! The only one I feel qualified to talk about is the licking, so I hope someone can field the prey drive. Unfortunately licking can be a lot of things - as you mentioned it can be from anxiety. She's had a lot happen to her recently, and even though you two are providing her a good home and she is probably happy, it's still a lot for anyone to go through, much less a dog. It can also be a way to relieve itching, as in she has itchy skin from allergies or skin sensitivity in general. This could be environmental, it could be seasonal, it could be both. A visit to the vet would be good for this - most of the time if something isn't mentioned (like excessive licking or hot spots) and they don't catch it in their general review of the dog they will miss it. If you make a vet appointment specifically for this at the very least they can try to treat for it if it's an allergy issue, and if she has no relief after treatment then you know it's not this. Subset of medical - it could be a parasite of some sort. A vet visit will help treat that and if she has bugs or critters on or in her that's a relatively easy fix. Fleas are a pain in the rear end, mostly because of all the furniture cleaning you have to do, but they are just as treatable as long as you are willing to give your pup flea control. Once again if you put her on regular flea control and she continues her licking habit, you'll know this isn't the issue, but it's a good idea to keep your critters protected from bugs anyway. It also can be behavioral - a bad habit that she's developed from her old home, like an adult chewing on their nails. In small amounts it doesn't hurt her but we don't want it becoming a sore and turning into something medical. This would require training, much like the prey drive thing, and would be difficult but I imagine it's also just as solvable. It will just take some time and patience, and I would expect her to relapse if she gets extremely stressed. Congratulations on the new addition to your family and I hope you three have many happy years together ahead of you!
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# ? Oct 15, 2019 06:50 |
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I'm on my phone so I cant post pictures, but today I was finally able to grab the stray cat I've been planning to take in. Hes been living under my trailer for the last month and I finally have the funds to get him fixed Problem is the appointment with the vet to get him fixed isn't until next Friday, I dont want to risk anything happening to him in the next week so I got him locked in my bathroom, hes a little freaked out but seems to be calming down. My other cats seem to be happy to leave him alone with the youngest one sniffing at the door as he passes. Anyone got any tips for keeping him happy until next Friday?
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# ? Oct 17, 2019 00:15 |
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Spend a bunch of time with him. Hang out in the bathroom with him a lot. Bring a book, phone, whatever. Make sure he's got a comfy warm rug to lie on and/or a cat bed, some toys, catnip and otherwise. You'll get sick of the bathroom, but he'll appreciate it. It's a big transition moving inside, make sure he knows he's got a friend in there.
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# ? Oct 17, 2019 03:09 |
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So the shelter finally got back with me about fostering! Unless something major comes up I should be getting a 4 pack of kittens on Friday! Ahhhh! Here's the picture the shelter sent me.
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# ? Oct 31, 2019 08:02 |
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mistaya posted:So the shelter finally got back with me about fostering! Unless something major comes up I should be getting a 4 pack of kittens on Friday! Ahhhh! Congrats! These kittens are about to drop the best album of 2019.
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# ? Oct 31, 2019 08:04 |
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mistaya posted:So the shelter finally got back with me about fostering! Unless something major comes up I should be getting a 4 pack of kittens on Friday! Ahhhh! That little calico is gonna be trouble. Get lots of footage of it.
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# ? Oct 31, 2019 15:23 |
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I want to hug all of them at once (could really use that today, not doing well)
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# ? Oct 31, 2019 18:43 |
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Sm15s2HCUQ (not mine, just seemed apropos)
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# ? Oct 31, 2019 21:14 |
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Lead out in cuffs posted:Welp, back on the fostering train again. Lead out in cuffs posted:Bathsheba progress: she now responds to treats, and will half-emerge from her pillow fort to get them. She also sometimes comes out to her food bowl while I'm in the room and on the computer. We've also seen/heard her coming out to feed during the day. Further Bathsheba updates:
She's still skittish and likes to hide behind furniture, but she's actively hanging out with us, and is (sometimes) enjoying being petted. This is from spending 18 hours a day hiding under a pillow. So much progress in just six weeks! We'll need to be setting up her Click for video PS: that's her favourite toy, most likely because it simulates a bird / moth. She's such an efficient huntress. PPS: 'scuse the cat litter all over that rug. She's also unusually efficient at spreading it everywhere.
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# ? Oct 31, 2019 21:32 |
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That cat is gorgeous. If you weren't on the other side of the country I'd want to scoop her up in a minute
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# ? Oct 31, 2019 23:27 |
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Kittens! They came pre-named by the shelter so introducing the Fall Starbucks Lineup of: Orange Male - Pumpkin Calico Female - Spice Mackerel Tabby (probably) Male - Latte Traditional/swirly Tabby Female - Cinnamon I'm going to be lazy and include a gallery but here's a taste of Spice being scrumptiously cute: mistaya fucked around with this message at 07:29 on Nov 4, 2019 |
# ? Nov 1, 2019 20:55 |
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Those look to be very excellent kittens.
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# ? Nov 1, 2019 22:09 |
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While very excellent they are also extremely stinky, even when I empty the litterbox 2-3 times a day. I'm trying to decide what the best course of action to deal with the smell is, since I don't want to just shoot febreeze all over the kitten room. I hope the terror poops are temporary as a result of dewormer because hoooo boy otherwise. Maybe the litter they gave me isn't very strong at de-scenting since it's for babies? They swarm my feet when I go in the room now and even little Latte, who is clearly the most careful of the bunch, lines up for pets. Spice is gonna make someone super happy. If you are petting the bunch you have to reserve one hand for Spice and split the remaining hand between the other three. She's the only one who wants pets every second you're in there with her. Cinnamon is the trouble maker, she's always the one who instigates all the play and the others follow her around. Pumpkin is both the laziest AND the fattest, he's always licking the empty food bowl. Also man I'm having a lot more allergy troubles than I expected. I barely react to my own cats anymore but it's been 10 years since I got them. I have to wear a cotton mask to go into the kitten room without sneezing and choking up. At least I have one though!
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# ? Nov 3, 2019 07:02 |
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One of those tower allergen air purifiers helps with both the dander and the smell in the kitten room. I've found that I have similar issues (my cats don't cause a reaction but sometimes new kittens can set off my allergies), it does calm down some after time but when I first get a new set of kittens I often have to break into the zyrtec again.
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# ? Nov 3, 2019 14:33 |
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Thanks! I ended up getting one of those disc-shaped citrus smelling things for bathrooms/pets and it worked a treat. Also allergies seem less bad today, which is good, I was super dying yesterday. But ya'll don't want to hear about me, have some kittens. Cinnamon is the shoulder queen: Latte sneaking some snuggles in while the rest of the bunch plays: Spice is the cutest thing alive: Pumpkin... Decided to be an orange blur in all my pictures and I dare not wake them all up again so have some Feeding Frenzy showing off his fat orange butt:
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# ? Nov 4, 2019 07:21 |
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mistaya posted:Thanks! I ended up getting one of those disc-shaped citrus smelling things for bathrooms/pets and it worked a treat. Also allergies seem less bad today, which is good, I was super dying yesterday. But ya'll don't want to hear about me, have some kittens. pumpkin is trying to live up to his name and I am here for it
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# ? Nov 4, 2019 20:29 |
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So I just found out they all have fleas, which was... I suppose I should have expected this, but I don't believe they've been treated at all since they were too young. I gave one a dawn bath and tried to get them all off with the flea comb but they were stuck so close to her skin that the comb was not getting them, even when I was combing over 4-5 fleas. It was freaking me out a bit. I used a tweezers to get all the hard stuck ones on her neck and shoulders but there were some on her legs I don't think I got off and I'm sort of panicking about it because she was shivering so hard so I ended up stopping to give her a break. I've watched a few more videos about it but they make it look a lot easier than it was for me, probably because they have some experience. Otherwise they've been very cute though I have a question... the door to the kitten room opens outwards, and the kittens have learned to camp the door when they hear me coming. Which has led to a few chases, and now that I know they are covered in fleas I'd really like to keep them in the quarantine zone until they're properly treated. Does anyone have a good method of preventing spawn-camping kittens from running out the door en-masse? I tried throwing a shirt over them, which almost worked. Maybe a towel or a blanket would do it. But then it'd have fleas on it.
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# ? Nov 8, 2019 03:23 |
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I actually have a baby gate on the door to my kitten room, it doesn't stop them from climbing it but it's at least enough of an obstacle to slow them down that I can grab them before they get far. I got a hand-me-down gate for free that doesn't actually secure a doorway for a kid but it's enough to stop a 1 pound kitten. Also I didn't want to jinx it but I was going to say before that usually when new kittens give me a bad allergy attack it's because they have fleas, so I guess that holds true for you too! My flea regimen is baths every 3 days, flea combing as tolerated, daily room vacuuming, and using a pyrethrin flea spray on carpets/baseboards/drapes/etc.
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# ? Nov 8, 2019 04:01 |
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I was considering a baby gate but this is starting to get more expensive than I had originally planned... I wonder if I can ask around and find out if someone has one in a garage somewhere. I watched a couple more videos and managed to get the other three bathed much quicker and less painfully. Well except when Cinnamon got ahold of my arm once. Unfortunately Pumpkin's flea infestation is all on his FACE which was like the most thing I've personally ever held in my hands. I did the ring of soap on their necks so that wasn't fleas fleeing to his face they were just all living there. I spent half an hour picking individual fleas off his face while his fur dried and I had him burrito'd but I know I didn't get all of them. Poor Pumpkin!
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# ? Nov 8, 2019 05:06 |
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# ? May 13, 2024 10:59 |
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If they have a baby gate and no kid, don't accept it - it clearly didn't work .
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# ? Nov 8, 2019 06:02 |