[TheMadcapLaughs]

my dog, lentil, had some mystery ailment and we had to hospitalize her for 2 days last week! very scary.

she was in some sort of state of shock but the vet's can't figure it out after a ton of testing. she seems to be on the mend now though. we think she might have eaten something she wasn't suppose to along with a ut infection. but praise the big kabala monster in the sky she seems to be doing ok now. having pet insurance saved us probably 2K. crazy. dogs> people

[Severian]

Originally Posted by TheMadcapLaughs

my dog, lentil, had some mystery ailment and we had to hospitalize her for 2 days last week! very scary.

she was in some sort of state of shock but the vet's can't figure it out after a ton of testing. she seems to be on the mend now though. we think she might have eaten something she wasn't suppose to along with a ut infection. but praise the big kabala monster in the sky she seems to be doing ok now. having pet insurance saved us probably 2K. crazy. dogs> people

May have been something she ate. I’ve had dogs and cats exhibit symptoms like that after munching on something that grows in this thicket behind my mother’s garden.

Also, animals can have extremely bad reactions to human medicine. There’s a whole list. Girlfriend’s dog ate a bottle of some kind of mood stabilizer we just had sitting around (prescribed and never used), and the cat ate a little *scrape* of one pill. Dog stumbled around for the day; cat had to be taken to the hospital and pumped fullnof fluids and I had to pay a bunch of money to ASPCA to get their advice, and a number that would guarantee me priority (it didnt work, and kitty almost died while I was in waiting room). But... they saved him. Dog was fine, but thoroughly roasted for a good day.

I almost pulled the little veterinary nurse-secretary girl out from behind the desk by her collar. I swear I almost went to jail that day.

But praise Cthulhu, all was well.

[d.sound]

re: cat piss

i had a territorial dispute when i got married. she had a scaredy cat, i had an aggressive and jealous cat. mine, (punky), mostly stayed in my (wo)man cave and would mark the entrance with her scent. usually on my cds. she wasn't too happy about having to share me with my wife too. i ended up sending my cat to my mom's because i always gave in to what my wife wanted. she was heartbroken and became depressed. later we divorced and i moved in with my mom. she would still piss in my room on those cds. there was another cat in the house so i thought either she was still being territorial or maybe it was because her scent was still on those cds. turned out she was just old, her legs didn't work as well, and she couldn't make it across the house to the litter.

after she died, i inherited the other cat. he developed diabetes and after i couldn't afford his meds anymore and he was getting real bad, he started pissing on the table where i kept all my music gear. i would put the litter right there on the table so he would use that, but he still pissed outside of it. he ruined my kaoss pad.

[TheMadcapLaughs]

Originally Posted by Severian

May have been something she ate. I’ve had dogs and cats exhibit symptoms like that after munching on something that grows in this thicket behind my mother’s garden.

Also, animals can have extremely bad reactions to human medicine. There’s a whole list. Girlfriend’s dog ate a bottle of some kind of mood stabilizer we just had sitting around (prescribed and never used), and the cat ate a little *scrape* of one pill. Dog stumbled around for the day; cat had to be taken to the hospital and pumped fullnof fluids and I had to pay a bunch of money to ASPCA to get their advice, and a number that would guarantee me priority (it didnt work, and kitty almost died while I was in waiting room). But... they saved him. Dog was fine, but thoroughly roasted for a good day.

I almost pulled the little veterinary nurse-secretary girl out from behind the desk by her collar. I swear I almost went to jail that day.

But praise Cthulhu, all was well.

Yikes! Glad the kitty is ok!

The weird part is the symptoms for my dog would appear at night only, the panting and shaking. It was very strange...

[Severian]

Originally Posted by d.sound

re: cat piss

i had a territorial dispute when i got married. she had a scaredy cat, i had an aggressive and jealous cat. mine, (punky), mostly stayed in my (wo)man cave and would mark the entrance with her scent. usually on my cds.

Ok, a.) I think you’re the only current female user I’m aware of, which is weird; and b.) “my (wo)man cave” made me gigggle. *

she wasn't too happy about having to share me with my wife too. i ended up sending my cat to my mom's because i always gave in to what my wife wanted. she was heartbroken and became depressed. later we divorced and i moved in with my mom. she would still piss in my room on those cds. there was another cat in the house so i thought either she was still being territorial or maybe it was because her scent was still on those cds. turned out she was just old, her legs didn't work as well, and she couldn't make it across the house to the litter.

after she died, i inherited the other cat. he developed diabetes and after i couldn't afford his meds anymore and he was getting real bad, he started pissing on the table where i kept all my music gear. i would put the litter right there on the table so he would use that, but he still pissed outside of it. he ruined my kaoss pad.

Shit. Fuck. Holy hells. This is so sad. I am sorry about, like, TEN things in this chunk of text. And I’m now totally freaked out about my cat’s health.

I *just* lost a dog. But yeah, I think it’s clear that the urinating is a health-related issue. He’s old... though I once had a cat who lived to be damn-near 30. No shit. Was, like, 18 when I was born and belonged to my grandmother. Didn’t pass until I was in middle school... but I know that cat was a huge exception.

Thanks for the feedback though. I really appreciate it, even if it’s just shared experiences. I’m living quite a solo (human-wise) life these days, more so than ever before really, and my animals are everything to me.

[Severian]

Also, my cat — the older one, proverbial Robin to my Batman, with whom I share this insane bond — has been exhibiting some other inexplicable and troubling behavior lately.

For instance, he has taken to lying on my old dog’s little “bed,” and when I’m not in the room I will hear him occasionally HOWL. Just, like, out of nowhere, he shrieks like he’s being attacked, usually while he’s sleeping. First I thought it was the younger cat attacking him (she loves to do that), but it wasn’t, and anyway when she bops him it’s light and fun, and he just trots off or baps her back... he doesn’t SCREAM.
Then I thought “maybe a tick? Maybe a spider?” But I checked him whenever it happened and found nothing but some tenderness in his back legs that caused him to pull away when I touched it.
Then I became convinced that there was broken glass on the tile in the room. I swept and vacuumed and swept and vacuumed and mopped and swept and vacuumed... nothing. No sign of glass in his feet or legs either. Been over every inch of him.

Nope. It’s like he’s getting his tail stepped on by nobody while he’s sleeping. HOWWWAAAHH!!! Then I *race* to his side and he just looks up at me with this mild “What?” look on his face.

So that is happening too. Could he be having night terrors? Tender legs just getting really painful?

Lingering effects from his mood stabilizer poisoning? That made him howl too (at walls... he was literally, observably hallucinating, according to the vet. Like the worst acid trip ever) but that was more than 2 years ago now.

[!@#$%!]

man im like the fucking bad news here

howling can be a sign of dementia

it just happens in older cats

this might also be related to the piss (though i have no experience w/ multicat household, hence what bytor et. al. said might apply)

i’d say list aaaaaall of his symptoms and take him to a vet when you get some coin

[Severian]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

man im like the fucking bad news here

howling can be a sign of dementia

it just happens in older cats

this might also be related to the piss (though i have no experience w/ multicat household, hence what bytor et. al. said might apply)

i’d say list aaaaaall of his symptoms and take him to a vet when you get some coin

Fuck, dick and piss.

Ok. I get paid in a couple days, so to the vet he shall go. Poor little guy.

My cat’s name is Tiger. I thought it was so hilarious when I named because he’s all black with little white mitten-paws, but I soon realized that it’s a super common name for cats. Not sure why I didn’t guess that. But it was one of those names that just sounded like him. Like, regardless of the meaning, “Tiger” just matches how he makes me feel somehow. It was like that was his name long before he even existed.

Tiger. My dude.

[EVOLghost]

I don't know if this is the right place for this....but has anyones dog ever poo'd n pee'd at the same time? I don't nkow if it's normal for my dog as I don't really start at him when he shits....but I've noticed this happen a couple times now....just wondering if any one encountered this phenomenon.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by EVOLghost

I don't know if this is the right place for this....but has anyones dog ever poo'd n pee'd at the same time? I don't nkow if it's normal for my dog as I don't really start at him when he shits....but I've noticed this happen a couple times now....just wondering if any one encountered this phenomenon.

I am honestly not sure. My girlfriend’s dog sometimes leaves presents that hand to god look like a shit-piss cocktail. Like he’s either doing both or pissing on his shit. I haven’t ever *seen* it though. And he’s an old dog, but he’s astonishingly healthy. He’s the one who ate the full bottle of the Rx pills — one bite of which almost killed my cat in an hour’s time — and exhibited pretty much no symptoms of distress other than some wobbling. He’s also eaten metal (an iPhone) and a box of raisins (toxic to dogs) ... didn’t phase him a bit.

I don’t think it’s normal for *anyone* to actually shit and piss at the same time though. Happens, but I don’t think it happens a lot. Might be a sign of inflammation of the prostate or something like that... I am just guessing here, so don’t freak out.

Easy think to ask a vet though. Hope all is well.

[EVOLghost]

never thought of it as concerning...hmmm. I’ll look into it more.

[TheDom]

This thread is so goddamn sad!!!!! I’m sorry everyone of you going through pet problems. My parents put down the old family dog 6 months ago and they still leave his toys and bed out. They don’t have the heart to put them away. When I went to visit 4 months ago they still put food in his bowl out of habit. It broke my fucking heart.

How do you determine when to put a pet down? I’m having a lot of trouble with this. My beloved rat Mona is a tumor factory right now. She’s already a year past life expectancy and we had tumors removed in January of this year. We told ourselves we’d let her go when she got them again because we can’t afford it and they’d just keep growing back but it’s so hard. She has like 5 of them but everytime I get her out she is her normal self. I know it seems like you wouldn’t be able to get attached to a rat as you would a dog but she’s been my little angel. When we got her she was a year old and they gave her to us because nobody would take her. It seemed like we were the first to even take her out of the cage she was in. Later that evening I was watching a movie and she grabbed popcorn out of my bowl and sat next to me and ate it. After she was finished she rested her chin on my leg and sat through the whole movie. Yeah dorky story I know but I could feel how her little heart must have felt, like she finally felt she had a home. She sits at my desk while I write. She watched me paint once and then preceded to mimick me with a brush. Honestly endless stories of her by my side. I feel like it needs to be done within the week but she acts so normal that it’s hard.

Sorry for the long post but nobody besides my girlfriend gets it. I’ve been condescended by everyone for even taking Mona to the vet to get looked at. Fuck people with no pets who try to tell you what to do with yours.

[ilduclo]

Awesome post! I'm glad you're taking good care of your rat buddy. Ms Ild has a great fondness for rats & we went to a rat show once. There were tons of rat appreciators there & pet love is great! I've also attended ferret, cat, chicken & rabbit shows, and it's just a real treat to see people who love their damned pets. My two kitties are doing well, little plump fluffy calico & lean and elegant tuxedo.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by ilduclo

Awesome post! I'm glad you're taking good care of your rat buddy. Ms Ild has a great fondness for rats & we went to a rat show once. There were tons of rat appreciators there & pet love is great! I've also attended ferret, cat, chicken & rabbit shows, and it's just a real treat to see people who love their damned pets. My two kitties are doing well, little plump fluffy calico & lean and elegant tuxedo.

My girlfriend got a rat once without asking me. Freaked me out and pissed me off at first, but she was pretty sweet. Problem was she was bred a certain way (albino, large) and therefore, like most overbred animals, had some congenital issues.

This is a really sad thing...

I had one cat at the time and it wasn’t really safe to leave the poor rat in the house when I was at work and the girlfriend was at school all day, even with the cage. So after a few close calls, we decided to relocate the rat downstairs to the basement of the duplex we were renting.

She was my girlfriend’s pet, and she always had such sad eyes, and always had this sad tremor that just killed me, so she took care of it. She was busy though, and she missed that over time, a lump started to grow on the poor thing’s neck. So did I... I missed it too, until it was quite big. No idea what happened. The poor thing was plagued by mites while in the house and spiders while in the basement. Part of me wondered if something had laid eggs in her neck (I know, gross and improbable, but not unheard of). I flipped out when I did notice it, but my girlfriend is a bit avoidant and can go into denial when something upsets her, so it wasn’t addressed. Until it became the size of a ping-pong ball and was affecting the way the poor thing moved. It made me sob and cry and neither of us knew what to do. It was VERY clearly too late to help the dear thing.

A family friend came over and helped with... laying her to rest. I couldn’t watch, neither could my girlfriend. We made a pact after that — no more caged animals or exotic animals EVER. I felt so bad because I had hated the thing at first, and I was part of the reason for it moving into the basement (my cat).

Please please please DO take your rat to the vet if you have one. It’s GREAT that you are monitoring its health. We fucked up. Don’t be like us. The poor thing still makes me sob when I think about her.

But, Dom, if she has like 5 tumors, I think you have your answer. I know our rat, with just the one, was sick as fuck even though she still perked up when taken out of her cage. Five tumors is too many tumors my friend. That’s my take anyway. She’s probably suffering in ways you can’t really see. Imagine that much mass on your body, even if non-malignant, and the kind of pain and discomfort it would cause.

Seems that tumors are common for the little beasts. Jesus, that’s so fucking sad. I’m so sorry.

[TheDom]

Yeah tumors in rats are inevitable. You can’t get one and it not grow multiple tumors. Thanks for the response and dont feel bad about your rat. They have remarkably horrible lives unless someone takes hem in. It helps when someone you know loves their animals can give you advice outside of the sitiuatuon. I’m going to talk to the lady and set a date in the next week or two. Poor Mona. At least I feel like I did everything I could for her not to have a shitty life.

[TheDom]

We put her down. Her breathing got worse and we took her to a pet ER. They were amazing and helpful.

Thanks guys. I don’t post here as much as I used too but no one in the real world gave a shit and thought it was insignificant.

She looked peaceful. I’ll always miss her.

[EVOLghost]

Really sorry to hear that....that rat sounded like a cool little dude.

[ilduclo]

You gave her a great life. Never forget that, and give great lives to more pets inna future! I just spent 10 minutes with my little calico on my lap, she and I both were purring!

[Severian]

Originally Posted by TheDom

We put her down. Her breathing got worse and we took her to a pet ER. They were amazing and helpful.

Thanks guys. I don’t post here as much as I used too but no one in the real world gave a shit and thought it was insignificant.

She looked peaceful. I’ll always miss her.

I’m sorry friend. Truly, I am. But you have this creature love and companionship and a better life than she would have had sitting in an aquarium in a tattoo shop or something. I think the breeding of domestic rats is a kind of despicable practice, as it creates these fragile, scared animals who need people but often aren’t valued. You, on the other hand, treated you rat right. So sorry for your loss, but you can feel good about that.

[ilduclo]

so, thinking about pet care, I went out and did a big water change and filter cleaning on my fish pond (about 600 gallons, good filter, 4 comets). They get all frisky after that is done, and I love watching them frolic thru the aerated water when I put the hose with mist sprayer in to fill it. Fish are pretty cool, too. I've never wanted to have koi or especially anything tropical. These fish are like 6" long and are maybe 10+ years old. I got them from the pet store as "feeders". Yeah, they like to feed!