Ask MetaFilter questions in the pets & animals category

Can rabbits get Babesia Gibsoni?

friedbeef — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 01:19:18 -0800

My dog has Babesia Gibsoni. I also have a rabbit. Can this disease be transmitted to rabbits?

Teaching An Old Dog New Tricks

magstheaxe — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 20:21:01 -0800

I need help in literally teaching an old dog a new trick--to pee and poop inside the house. So my dad owns an elderly (13 year old) pure-bred cocker spaniel, Barney. Barney's lived with my dad for about seven years. He came to Dad from my cousin already housebroken, and was trained to go stand in front of the front door when he needs to pee and poop (he scratches if no one notices him at the door).

In the past several months, Barney has developed cataracts that have severely limited his vision. In bright daylight he does okay, but once the sun sets and the lights inside the house come on, it's harder for him to find his way to the door. In addition, (a) my father is getting forgetful in his old age and frequently misses it when Barney signals that he needs to go outside, and (b) as a senior citizen doggy Barney can't quite hold his bladder the way he used to. The end result is that there's been quite a few accidents.

I've noticed than when Barney can't find his way to the front door, he tends to pee/poop at a certain spot in the kitchen. This is not the only spot in the house he pees/poops in, but it seems to be the most frequent place.

Just to be on the safe side, I did have the vet check Barney out, and he could find no medical reason for Barney to pee/poop in the house. It simply boils down to a combination of Barney not getting to the door in time, and Daddy sometimes not responding when Barney signals.

I would like to re-train Barney to a indoor litter box. I've never had to housebreak a dog before, and of course Barney's already been trained to handle his pee/poop needs a certain way. Anyone have any advice on getting Barney to adapt to a litter box? Is it even feasible to attempt re-training of a dog of his age and health?

I should point out that Barney is a rescue (my cousin's ex-husband physically abused her and Barney both), so please take that into account. In the instance of crate training, I don't think Barney has a problem with confined spaces--there's a spot between the couch in the den and a china cabinet that he loves to curl up in--but I'd hate to find out the hard way. Also, Barney is a loveable dog with a sweet disposition, but due to his abuse he can be very hostile if he feels threatened, in an almost they'll-never-take-me-alive! way. I'd like to keep any re-training as stress-free as possible.

Finally, I will add that my father and I are absolutely crazy about Barney. He has been my father's sole companion since my mother died two years ago, and a source of great comfort to Daddy. I want to do anything I can to make both Dad's and Barney's life easier.

Is my cat really that big?

gwenlister — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:42:11 -0800

Is my cat the walrus everyone keeps telling me she is? I recently have had a number of people tell me that my cat Rhubarb is an unusually large cat. I had one guy tell me that she is the size of a dog, and that she is definitely the largest cat he's ever seen. Not that she's fat, but just that she's BIG! I thought she was normal but now that I look at her I guess I can see how she is big. I finally measured her and she is 22 inches from head to butt, plus another foot or so for her tail... Is this big for a cat? (She's ~2 years old) What is the average length for a standard housecat?

(ps - you may remember Rhubarb from this question. Yes, she is still just as dumb and clutzy, and yes I still love her so hard I can barely breathe.)

Should I help pay for the surgery that could save my best friends dogs life?

akabobo — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:16:58 -0800

Should I help pay for the surgery that could save my best friend’s dog’s life? My best friend’s dog may need surgery soon for a condition that could be life threatening. It’s unlikely that my friend will be able to afford to pay for this without wrecking her finances. She is pretty responsible with money, but she works in a non-profit and still has a bunch of college loans to pay off. She loves this dog so much, I know it’s going to kill her if she can’t help her dog simply because she doesn’t have the money.

I would like to help her. Looking at my finances, I could give her as much as $3,000 without setting back my financial goals or exceeding my comfort level.

I’m worried that she will feel burdened by a gift of this size and that it will change our relationship with her. I don’t want to be paid back—I would consider it a gift, not a loan. So, should I help pay for the surgery that could save my best friend’s dog’s life?

More generally, I’d also Iike to hear from others about when you think it is appropriate to help friends out financially.

birds of a certain feather

ryecatcher — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:12:20 -0800

BirdFilter: Looking out over Watt's Cove in Tenants Harbor, Maine I keep seeing a flock of small birds flying back and forth. They look to be brownish in color but then! They briefly flash silver at the slightest change in direction. Any ideas?

Itchy Doggy!

a3matrix — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 07:00:28 -0800

What can I do for my dogs allergies? Every year in August, without fail, my dog starts scratching like a mad dog. I get him a cortisone shot at the vet, but that doesn't seem to be helping as much as it has in the past.
Stan is a 3.5 year old Black Lab and he weighs ~70 lbs.
He is healthy. He eats well. His food is Eagle Pack brand, which is a good brand.
I recently started him on Grizzly Salmon Oil as the oil is touted to " help counteract negative effects of allergic dermatitis by producing specific eicosanoids, which are known to reduce and control skin inflammations. "
He also gets benadryl sometimes, but I have to say, I have never seen that really help.
In addition to that I am taking him swimming in the evenings as the cool water is supposed to also calm the skin.
So, at this point I would love suggestions on any additional things I can do to keep my doggy from scratching himself to the point of hurting himself.
If you have an itchy dog and you know some thing I can do to help my boy out, I would love to hear it.
Thanks so much, and have a great weekend.

Why can't we feed our cat after he's been tranquilized?

tomatofruit — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 23:22:15 -0800

Our 20 pound monster of a cat had to be injected with a tranquilizer today at the vet. Afterwards, we were told not to give him any food or water until tomorrow. Google searches have turned up plenty of suggestions for how to tranquilize one's pet, but nothing mentioning not letting them eat or drink. We're obviously going to do as the vet says, but this cat has a darling habit of clawing furniture and knocking things off shelves when his dish is empty, so I can't help but wonder why. Any ideas?

The Mystery of the Magenta Cat Food

amarynth — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:30:24 -0800

Why would my cat's wet food suddenly be turning magenta when exposed to air? My cat has been on Royal Canin's Renal Care pouches for 7 years, due to a liver condition. I usually feed him in the morning before I leave for work, and there's always some left over in the bowl when I get home that I toss before washing the bowl and giving him more food. A few weeks ago, I noticed that when I got home from work, the food, which was not completely dried out, was magenta. On Tuesday and yesterday, the same thing happened. This has happened using two different bowls (one glass, one ceramic).

I called Royal Canin today, and they seemed dismissive, and just said that there has been no formula changes, and that the food has no artificial colors and color changes are to be expected once the food has been exposed to air. I tried to emphasize that the food was MAGENTA, and this had never happened before, but the CSR just repeated that color changes were to be expected.

Around the time of the first magenta-ing, I did notice that Miles didn't seem to be eating as much. I leave Innova Senior dry food out for both my cats all day, so he does have other food available.

In March of 2006, Royal Canin recalled this particular brand of cat food because of increased amounts of vitamin D, which caused hypercalcemia and caused poor Miles to lose about a third of his body weight in two months. Of course I did ask the CSR if there was any recall, and she assured me that there was not, but that explains why I'm a little bit panicky about this.

I do have a call in to my vet, but I don't know that Royal Canin will tell them anything different than they told me.

I can has prairie dog?

lizzicide — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:23:55 -0800

Do I have any options for getting a prairie dog as a pet in the US? I know, they've been banned since 2003, with pre-existing pet prairie dogs being grandfathered in under the provision that they not be moved from the home except under quarantined conditions, and only to the veterinarian's office at that. But is there anything I can do to get around this and acquire one? Are there any rescue organizations geared at adopting prairie dogs from owners who can no longer care from them in the US? Is there any appeal being made to overturn the ban?

My rabbit likes cat food.

All.star — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 20:11:58 -0800

I think my rabbit occasionally eats my cat's crunchy food. Is this bad? The cat food sits in a bowl on the floor in the room where we let the bunny roam. A few times I've walked into the room to see the bunny sitting and facing the cat food bowl - so I think she sometimes eats it, but probably not a lot. Is this bad for her? I don't particularly want to move the cat's food bowl, but I will if I need to.

Also, if the bunny is eating the cat food, does that mean I'm not feeding the bunny enough?

Trying to treat my cat right but it's coming out wrong.

fiery.hogue — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 16:46:46 -0800

How should I get my 20-year-old cat on canned food? Is it worth it at this point? I have a 20-year-old cat who grew up on the cheapest dry cat food imaginable. For the first eight years of her life, I was in graduate school, so I lived on beans and rice, and she lived on the cat equivalent. She is now 20 years old, with teeth going south, and I decided that she deserves to live the rest of her years in luxury. So I went out and sprung for really premium "wet" cat food. For the past week I've been giving it to her in very small doses (like literally less than a teaspoon), because I know her system isn't used to it. She loves it--but within 4 to 12 hours later, she is horribly sick. Vomiting, diarrhea, etc. As soon as she feels better, she starts meowing for more. I tried different "flavors" and two different brands, but the result is the same. Should I give up? Is there a step here I'm missing?

Other relevant facts: I have found that vets are very reluctant to do dental work on a cat this old and this small (always ca. 6 lbs) because it would require anesthetizing them, which is potentially fatal. And she seems to still eat plenty of her dry food. I just wanted to treat her a little bit and get her some more nutrition in case she was finding it hard to chew. Thanks!

Do cats pee on leather?

tristeza — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 12:45:51 -0800

Have you ever heard of, known, or had a cat who peed on leather furniture? That's really it, I guess. I need a couch that my cat won't ruin with pee (claws, I'm pretty OK knowing it'll get a few scratches), so am looking for your own experience/anecdotes with leather (not suede).

My little guy only does it once in a blue moon, but once is enough to ruin an entire couch.

Thanks.

We want the old Moxie back!

Grither — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:46:55 -0800

Why is my dog suddenly aggressive towards other dogs, and how can I try to reverse this recent trend? My 3yr old half beagle half mutt female dog has recently become rather aggressive towards other dogs. We used to take her on walks with no problem, and she used to enjoy going to the dog park for a good run.

Now however, she often lunges at other dogs and growls and the hair on her back stands up when we're walking her, and we are afraid to take her back to the (finally) renovated dog run near us. She is perfectly fine with some dogs in the neighborhood (even lying on her back and exposing her belly to them when she sees them!), but with other dogs she will go nuts! We did have one experience at the dog park where a rather large dog was quite aggressive towards her, but there was no immediate change in her behavior following that little rumble. So we're not really sure what caused the change, or how to fix it.

We have been trying to make sure that when another dog is crossing our path we hold her close to us, and if she doesn't growl or lunge, we will praise her a lot. This doesn't seem to be having much effect, though, and I was wondering if any Mefites might have had similar problems and have been able to solve them? We are considering going to doggy training again with her to try and fix this problem, but I thought I'd ask here first. Thanks in advance!

Anti-social cat, help w/insulin regimen/travel/sociability?

4midori — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 22:53:07 -0800

Anti-social cat that needs twice-daily insulin shots and oral meds; solutions for travel? I have an older cat that has developed diabetes. She needs insulin shots every 12 hours, and oral meds every 24 hours.

I can provide these with no problem. My cat is comfortable with me, and lets me pick her up, etc. Also, if you haven't seen a cat get an insulin shot--mine, at least, doesn't even notice. The needle is tiny and goes in to a pinch of skin. Painless.

The problem is this: at her best, my cat flees from strangers. At her worst, she hisses at them. In either case, she won't allow a stranger to pet her unless she's gotten used to the person being around a lot. I think it's partly from all the trips to the vet for blood draws and other discomfort.

Needless to say, this constrains my life somewhat, as I can't be out of my house for more than 12 hours, and it makes travel very difficult. For trips of a few hours, I can bring her with and medicate her myself, but that means finding a hotel that both accepts cats and is not a noisy dump.

So, ideas for:

Better socialization and/or travel?

Thanks.

Two dogs or not two dogs? That is the question.

onhazier — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:33:36 -0800

We've got two dogs. A neighbor approached us about one of hers. My neighbor offered us her beautiful one year old St Bernard/Border Collie mix. The dog is fixed, up to date on shots, and pretty well house trained. She's sweet, submissive, and playful. The family has an older do which they will be keeping.

They are wanting to find this girl a new home because of a grandparent has become a permanent member of the household. The care needed by the grandparent is, of course, a huge stress.

So, here's the question: Do we take her? We've got two large dogs already. All three have met previously and gotten along.

How do you transition from 2 dogs to 3 successfully? As an alternate: how to help them find a home for her?

5 cats enter, 1 cat leaves

oh really — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:53:08 -0800

Catfilter: Combining a 3-cat household with a 2-cat household. Yes, that's a lot of cats. Help me figure out how to ensure my house doesn't turn into the Thunderdome! How do I best integrate 5 cats who are pretty much guaranteed to not like each other? Vital stats: 3 females, 2 males. All 3 of the females expect to be queen bee. One of the males is a kitten, 1 of the females is declawed. Ages are: 11, 10, 3, 1, & 7 weeks. The youngest female is a stray who is very affectionate with humans but fairly aggressive towards other cats. I am mostly concerned about the declawed female cat or the kitten getting beaten up by the streetcat -- I expect a fair amount of tussling & hissing, but I really don't want to take anyone to get stitches.

Right now, they are divvied up as follows:

House A
10-yr-old female, 3-yr-old male, 1-yr-old female (streetcat)

House B
11-yr-old declawed female, male kitten

Like I said, I don't expect them to be buddies or anything, but what can I do to minimize trauma for all involved? Any secrets to getting these guys to chill the heck out? The 3-cat household is already a constant Mexican standoff, you know?

How do we keep our dog from making a big fuss in the morning?

geeky — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 09:02:22 -0800

DogTrainingFilter: How do we keep our dog from making a big fuss in the morning? We adopted an 8 month old border collie / beagle mix last weekend. We were told she was crate trained and she does seem to be. For now, she sleeps in her crate in our bedroom. (She was sick when we got her and we wanted to keep a close eye on her. She's doing better now.)

While she isn't overly eager to go in her crate at night, she goes in with a little guidance and no shoving at all. We reward her with a treat. She's quiet or mostly quiet when we're going to sleep, and sleeps through the night without any fussing. However, twice this week my husband has had to get up early (4:45am) to go to work. He wakes up and leaves the room. A few minutes after he leaves the room, the dog starts whining, which eventually elevates to full on barking.

What is the appropriate response in this situation? My husband and I often wake at different times, so we'd like her to stay quiet even if one of us gets up and leaves. I'll admit I made the mistake of taking her out of the crate the first morning she cried, but only because I was afraid she had to pee. The second time I used a different tactic and tried silently waiting out the whining and barking. No comforting words, no yelling at her, no acknowledgment of her whatsoever. My husband did re-enter the room a few times, but also (mostly) ignored her. She barked and whined until 5:30am (45 mins) when my alarm went off, at which time I turned on a light, used the bathroom, and after making sure she wasn't making any noise, let her out of the crate.

Is this the right thing to do, or should we be doing something else? 45 mins is an awful lot of barking to endure at that hour of the morning. Should I try telling her "quiet", or should we move her crate out of the bedroom? Oddly enough, she's fine if we leave her in the crate during the day, and if only one of us is around, she doesn't mind being left alone in a room. She does, however, cry and scratch at doors if both of us are home and one of us goes into a room with a closed door (for example, the bathroom). In those cases, we can usually distract her with a toy or something.

Where can my dog go swimming in Ottawa?

Chick Pea — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:51:17 -0800

Where can I go swimming with my dog near Ottawa, ON? I recently moved to Ottawa, and my husband and I are having a hard time locating pet-friendly places to swim. We have found some good dog parks, but no pet-friendly places near the water. We have a car, and we are willing to drive a few hours if we need to.
We would really love to get away this weekend, bonus points if you can suggest pet friendly cottages or campsites that have beaches open to dogs.
Thanks!

What's up with my weirdo kitten?

sunimplodes — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:26:12 -0800

A couple of questions from a new cat owner. I have a 14-week old early-neuter long-haired orange male tabby. We bought him at 11 weeks from a cat rescue program who had him neutered, dewormed, and got him all his shots. He's exhibiting a few strange behaviors, and I'm having trouble finding answers on the internet, in that most of the stuff I'm finding doesn't seem to quite fit his behavior.

1. The last few days, he seems to have an excess of dark brown earwax coming out of one of his ears. We've gently cleaned him out with a q-tip, but I'm wondering if this is normal, or an indicator of ear mites or some other problem.

2. He makes a lof of unusual mewing sounds, specifically when he's hyper and running around, and also whenever he jumps, but there don't seem to be any physical indications of pain, as he's very playful, very friendly, and seems to have pretty normal body language.

3. He's been urinating out of place a little bit lately. He's very good about using his litter box, and it's cleaned daily, removing 2-4 "deposits" at a time. Nonetheless, he has peed on the couch a couple times, and also on some clothes in the bedroom more than once. It's infrequent. He seems friendly and happy, so I don't think it's a behavioral thing, and it doesn't seem frequent enough to be a urinary tract infection. Any ideas?

With all this said, we have an appointment scheduled at the vet, but I'm looking to go in with some idea of what's going on so I can ask better questions, and I'm also looking to see if there's anything I can do in the meantime.

Thanks!

Help me get my Jack Russell to quit peeing on everything.

veronicacorningstone — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:52:22 -0800

How do I get my 4 year old Jack Rusell to stop peeing on things? He IS potty trained, and neutered, but still seems to be "marking" furniture and corners all over my apartment, and I NEVER catch him in the act. I've heard this is an issue that is more common in Jack Russells. Is there anything I can do to deter this so he won't pee on my new couch? A few more details:

- He was not well potty trained when I got him, but he definitely knows to tell me whenever he wants/needs to go out.

- He also was not neutered until I got him, which was when he was 18 months old. Ideally he would have been neutered sooner.

- This seems to happen even after hes been out to relieve himself plenty of times

- This mostly occurs on corners of furniture that have been around oher dogs, or in places that other dogs have lived.

- I literally have only caught him in the act of doing this once & often don't notice it's even happened right away.

How can I train him / deter this behavior? He is a smart dog and I've been able to train him quite a few things given the fact that I am a novice at best in dog training. I have a new couch and the thought of him marking this too... Ugh!

*Bonus Points if you can just send Ceasar Milan (the Dog Whisperer) directly to my place. Otherwise, any suggestions are welcome, especially if you've cured this in a Jack Russell, because they certainly are a unique breed.

Kitty needs to eat while I'm away - help!

Sijeka — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:13:19 -0800

Really worried about my kitty! I'm looking for a last minute cat-sitter for next week in London, UK (E2, Bethnal Green). A friend was supposed to be able to house-sit for us but he dropped out at the last minute. I'm left really worried about my kitty Scully, who's six months and has not been spawyed (therefore cannot go in a shelter).

I'll gladly take any recommendations! Where to look for a trusted pet sitter, any companies you have had experience with, etc...

What Do Dog Owners Want?

freshwater_pr0n — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:11:12 -0800

Help me to be the best dog trainer possible to my clients! Tell me what you look for in a dog trainer, and what you hope the experience will be like. Tell me your best and worst experiences. I teach group classes in basic and advanced obedience, work with owners whose dogs have serious behavior problems like aggression and anxiety, and everything in between, so all feedback is helpful. I was inspired by ebellicosa's excellent askme. I give my clients a feedback form, and often hear their thoughts either firsthand or secondhand through colleagues in the dog world or through friends of friends, but that's mostly positive. I'd like to hear what doesn't work, too.

Post-poop dog won't move on walks, help!

wolfkult — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:54:14 -0800

Leash training question. Dog stops walking all of the sudden on walks and will not come. We end up having to carry him back to house every day. Any advice? Our shih-tzu (not sure on age, 6-10 years, we got him from a shelter ~3 months ago) used to do OK on walks. He would stop sometimes but would come once we slightly tugged on his leash. We take him on a short walk around the block so that he'll poop every night after he eats. Now after he poops he stops, he doesn't go any further unless it's just sniffing around in the grass. He resists us pulling on him and doesn't come to no matter what we say/yell.

It started last week the day after he got a little scared on walk. That night when I was walking him a lightning storm came through and there was one loud thunder clap very close to us that he bolted toward traffic to get caught by leash and then pretty much sprinted with me back to the house. The next day he would not even go past driveway with me but would go to the "pooping spot" with my wife but would not come back. Some days he's a little better than others but today he wouldn't move at all post-poop.

I don't think he's just getting tired. He has lots of energy to play in the house and used to energetically run on walks on 100 degree days.

If I google "leash training" all I get is stuff for dogs pulling on their leash which isn't really what is going on here, we're the ones pulling on him! Any links or advice for what we can do to help him out?

By the way he has very bad eye-sight and CANNOT see a treat or anything unless it is an inch under his nose. So there is no stick-and-carrot type of stuff we can do, we've tried.

What can I expect for my cat who has heart disease?

bluesky43 — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 06:31:46 -0800

My cat has been diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. What can I expect? I am looking for any Mefites who have had cats with similar conditions or vets who have treated cats with this condition.

Here's the backstory. We took our 10 year old cat to the vet last Friday because of sudden onset heavy breathing that began on Tuesday. The breathing progressed to lethargy and reduced appetite. Based on an X-ray indicating fluid on the lungs, the vet removed 90cc of fluid from one lung and 30cc from the second lung; an ultrasound confirmed the heart disease. Our cat was started on diuretics and beta blockers on Saturday and is still at the vet, possibly to be released today. The cause is likely genetic (common among cats in our area and our particular cat is part Maine Coon Cat, a breed with high incidence of this genetic condition). The vet seemed realistic when I asked him about prognosis and indicated that every case is somewhat different with a different trajectory.

I love my cat -- he is an awesome cat -- but I don't want him to be put through needless pain and suffering. For vets, is treatment likely to be successful? Was treatment successful for your cat? And more importantly, would you do whatever you did for your cat again?

This photograph shows how we under-use the brains of intelligent animals

grippycat — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 21:05:45 -0800

So... I was doing some light reading on feline behavior tonight (yes, I'm a cat nerd)... Scroll to page 34. Look at the cute photo of a cat on a file cabinet. Read the caption underneath the photo. Um, what? I... is it a weird joke? Is this something I'd need to be a cat behaviorist to understand? Is it a copypasta remnant? I'm going to be reading and rereading this PDF all night trying to figure out how cat intelligence and perching choice intersect and how the blank stare of a cat shows it.