[!@#$%!]

o man

that fucking hurts

[Severian]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

o man

that fucking hurts

I am torn the fuck up about it. She was a great dog. And a rescue. She was that special kind of dog with tons of character, who’s both fiercely independent and totally nurturing and maternal. If I was in a bad mood, she was there. She’d plop her head down on my foot or lick my hands, and try her damndest not to chase things because she could tell she was needed.

I found her in a blizzard, bounding through snow drifts in ‘05. Her feet were all messed up and even a bit frost-bitten on the pads from being out in the cold for so long. I still tried to contact her owner, and put signs up, because I thought certainly nobody would abandon this majestic beast to the elements... surely someone is missing her desperately.

No calls. No complaints to animal control. After a few weeks I said fuck whatever owner let this poor thing nearly freeze to death, and I took the signs down.

There was a puppy mill nearby, out in the boonies. I figured, and my vet at the time also suspected, that’s where she was from, as she looked undeniably and classicly like a pure-bred Border Collie. Fuck puppy mills.

She came to me in a blizzard at a dark time. She just appeared while I was driving along a back road. She was like an angel.

Sweetest dog you could imagine.

Shit.

[!@#$%!]

dammit, that is heartbreaking

but look at this: nothing last forever. so in spite of the inevitable sadness appreciate the time that you spent together, fated meeting included.

my cat died last year but to me he’s not gone— ever

[dirty bunny]

I'm sorry for your loss.

[ilduclo]

Border collies are some high energy dogs. Just under Jack Russels in my estimation.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by ilduclo

Border collies are some high energy dogs. Just under Jack Russels in my estimation.

They are. I’ve had three (kind of). One, my childhood dog, was half Australian Shepherd, so.... SUPER high energy, and also the love of my life. Then I rescued a purebred from an avusive farmer who kept the poor guy in a 8x10 cage for YEARS to the point where the poor dog’s back legs didn’t even work anymore. Bastard had all this farmland, and actual sheep, but the dog hadn’t made him any money on breeding so he punished it day in and day out. Closest I’ve ever come to smacking the shit out of a 75-year-old man with a wooden leg (no shit!). And then I found the one I just lost about a year or so later.

She was the last one.

I still have my kitty — my loyal traveling companion who sleeps on my fucking face — but he’s getting old.

This is hard. Sometimes I think it’s “not worth it” — the pain and sadness of losing an animal and a friend. But ALL of these dogs (and my cats) would have quite literally died if I had not taken them home. They all had long happy spoiled rotten lives with me and my mother and my girlfriend. They were loved. So I need to buck the fuck up and stop being so selfish. It IS worth it. If I have to be sad and heartbroken now in order for them to have had happy healthy lives, then there’s no question. One of the most “worth it” things I’ve ever done.


Yeah, I’m a huge animal sap. Yep.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

dammit, that is heartbreaking

but look at this: nothing last forever. so in spite of the inevitable sadness appreciate the time that you spent together, fated meeting included.

my cat died last year but to me he’s not gone— ever

I hear you. And thank you. I know she’ll be with me forever, just like her goofy brother and sister animals in la casa de Severian.

She was better than people, though. I’m not a sociopath... that’s just the truth. All of my animals, and virtually ever animal I’ve ever known has been better than people.

[!@#$%!]

yes

[EVOLghost]

Damn....I come back and I see this shit....makes me sad. My 3 animals are good though. They had fleas a couple weeks back. Didn't know fleas were super common up here. They're alright now....after a couple hundred bucks of flea shit....(can't forget about the cat too!).

[d.sound]

my cat's have a bit of separation anxiety. i was gone for longer than usual today. they were both in the window looking out for me when i got home. so adorable. i'd like to know how long they wait like that when i'm overdue. anytime i'm gone at an unusual time they sit in the window, waiting for me to come back.

my girls also have fleas. theres a discount clinic here that'll give me the meds for $10 since i have to take the kitten in to get spayed. in the meantime it's become quite annoying.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by d.sound

my cat's have a bit of separation anxiety. i was gone for longer than usual today. they were both in the window looking out for me when i got home. so adorable. i'd like to know how long they wait like that when i'm overdue. anytime i'm gone at an unusual time they sit in the window, waiting for me to come back.

my girls also have fleas. theres a discount clinic here that'll give me the meds for $10 since i have to take the kitten in to get spayed. in the meantime it's become quite annoying.

2 things, the first important:

a) do not use cheap flea medication from the supermarket. it can kill cats. stick to the legit stuff—but if you can get it discounted, great

b) when you leave the house at odd times or for long periods leave your dirty smelly tshirt in a place they hang out so they can feel your funk

extra: c) non-chemical treatments like a flea comb and diatomaceous earth can help

[Severian]

^^^ YES, the store-bought flea shit is TERRIBLE. Don’t use the powder, don’t use the colors, don’t use any pills you can find at Target.
Get any and all flea, tick and worm treatments from a veterinarian. And even then, be discerning and skeptical and ask lots of questions. Be willing to spend more on the medication that the vet gives to his/her animals. If it’s a good vet, that is.

It’s not just cats either.
I’ve seen the cheap shit powder take strips of skin off of a short-haired American Staffordshire Terrier. Like acid. Purebreds have a lot of sensitivities and health issues of course, but that wasn’t the reason for the flaying. That shit is toxic by design, and it can seriously fuck animals up.

The dog I’m talking about was fine, by the way. Unlike my dog. Who is now dead.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

2 things, the first important:

a) do not use cheap flea medication from the supermarket. it can kill cats. stick to the legit stuff—but if you can get it discounted, great

b) when you leave the house at odd times or for long periods leave your dirty smelly tshirt in a place they hang out so they can feel your funk

extra: c) non-chemical treatments like a flea comb and diatomaceous earth can help

Hey, do you have any tips about cat piss?

I’ve had my “main” cat — the subject of many affectionate rants on this very board — for 12-13 years, and he NEVER pissed anywhere other than his litter box for YEARS. Even if I was a bad catdad and forgot to clean it for a while, he *always* used it because he’s a goddamn badass.

But a couple years ago, I rescued a feral kitten, and even though she quickly became a total loveball, she never really lost the marking instinct... not even after she was spayed. So, my older cat takes this new information in, and after a while HE starts pissing on shit.

Now she almost never does it and he’s the main offender.

Could be that he’s just getting old, but man I’ve tried everything — cleaning the box multiple times a day (great way to smell like cat litter all the time), spraying repellants, steam cleaning the carpet to get rid of the smell of old “ooposies.” But he still does it every once in a while. And he’ll do it when I’m away or right in front of me. Very strange. 10 years I’d never dribbling outside his box, and now... blech.

[!@#$%!]

ah shit man, wish i knew, and worse this worries me a bit. maybe it’s not a thing. i don’t know.

we used an orange-based spray that supposedly prevents issues. but turns out he had developed a chronic kidney condition, and then some bouts of diabetes, and high blood pressure from thyroid, and.... ufff. yeah. it got rough. sorry if this alarms you.

i don’t know about training for non-medical conditions. the lil’ bastard was super smart and never needed much except when ill—which he was for the most part in the end.

don’t have experience w/ multiple cats either :/

[gogologogolo]

Morbid thread. Speaking of dead pets, my dog died recently. Could barely even walk anymore. There's something perverse and depressing about keeping pets. I don't think I plan on getting another one.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by gogologogolo

Morbid thread. Speaking of dead pets, my dog died recently. Could barely even walk anymore. There's something perverse and depressing about keeping pets. I don't think I plan on getting another one.

neither do i (“plan,” at least) but this thread isn’t particularly morbid. death happens— it/s normal.

we live in a time when death is hidden from everyone, or turned into stupid cartoons, and when it really comes we can’t handle it— that’s what’s so warped. the whole culture is in denial.

death is a part of life like everything else, and while it’s not a happy thing we have to learn to live with it— otherwise we turn into a bunch of stupid enlarged babies. i’m grateful that my cat taught me a thing or two about death— he was the best.

but yeah really not planning on any new pets— for me it’s not the fear of death but the commitment. i gotta be mobile right now.

[gogologogolo]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

neither do i (“plan,” at least) but this thread isn’t particularly morbid. death happens— it/s normal.

we live in a time when death is hidden from everyone, or turned into stupid cartoons, and when it really comes we can’t handle it— that’s what’s so warped. the whole culture is in denial.

death is a part of life like everything else, and while it’s not a happy thing we have to learn to live with it— otherwise we turn into a bunch of stupid enlarged babies. i’m grateful that my cat taught me a thing or two about death— he was the best.

but yeah really not planning on any new pets— for me it’s not the fear of death but the commitment. i gotta be mobile right now.

For me the depressing part about pets is that you're forcing them to live in this weird unnatural state that frustrates their natural instincts. Mind you, humans also live in an artificial environment like that, and maybe it's not so bad.

Being mobile is also part of the reason. I like to travel and really don't want to be bothered finding a dogsitter every time

[ilduclo]

Couple of items on pet info. Use real caution with wormers, Bayer pharma has one out that has serious health issues, called "profender", do not use!!! For fleas, we use Advantage 2, and it has worked great for us...as to cat box & inappropriate peeing, I think you may have a power struggle gong on. We've solved this with having 3 cat boxes in different places, one in the garage (accessed thru a cat flap in the door, another in the pantry off the kitchen and a 3rd in my office. Works good, cats are seldom real good buddies and like to harass one another when vulnerable...

[ilduclo]

One good reason to have pets is that there's normally a pretty miserable existence for them otherwise, either as feral or shelter animals. We are real proud of our saves, one cat saved from a house with 3 agressive dogs, another older cat from a shelter whose previous owner died and a 3rd saved after being abandoned in a meth house. Gotta love it!

[!@#$%!]

^^ very true, the brat was a rescue with AIDS (well, FIV properly, but AIDS sounds more dramatic, right?) and we kept him happy and healthy past anybody’s expectations and he was spoiled as fuck. originally i was hesitant of adopting an fiv cat as my first cat because i didn’t wanna have a scenario like those benetton ads from the 90s, and managed to dodge that for a long time— but in truth, when it finally came, having a benetton ad scenario was, although certainly stressful, a massive experience with “growth,” as they call it. beautiful, and it was all worth it.