Ask MetaFilter posts tagged with pets

Any suggestions on how to make a Littler Locker?

pghjezebel — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 09:47:32 -0800

DIY Litter Locker? I'd love to use a litter locker when cleaning my cats litter boxes, but I can't justify spending that much on the refills, especially when I have two cats.

I can get small scented garbage bags x 100 for about a dollar a piece at our local dollar store. I'm looking for a air tight container, that would make a good diy litter locker. Just curious if anyone has done something similar to this before?

My cats are ruining my life!

icarus — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 11:56:47 -0800

I can't take it anymore. My cats are plotting my death. Please help me keep my sanity, my cats, and my apartment. I've had my two cats, since they were kittens, for the last two years. They are the friendliest and best behaved cats as far as people-cats interactions go.

What they both fail at is furniture-cats and life-cats interaction.

They are both indoor cats, and they are suffocating me. They have pretty much taken over the living room, I am afraid to be in it, because I start losing my mind every time I see another kitty-made fluffy dust bunny.

1. They shed. They shed no matter how much I brush them. They shed everywhere, on everything. What can I do? Anything at all?

2. They are not vertically challenged. They have no fear and they jump on every cabinet, on every counter top, on top of the oven, on top of whatever they please. My kitchen and livingroom are one and the same. I don't want to think about how much cat hair I must've ingested. Lately, one of the cats thinks it's awesome to jump on top of the fridge and stare at me while I'm washing the dishes. Is there anything I can do to keep them from jumping on top of every surface?

3. One of them cries for me every night. I don't let him in the bedroom because he sheds. And he lays down in front of the closed door and cries, and cries, and cries. He's been to the vet, there is absolutely nothing wrong with him except he's needy, spoiled, and doesn't want me to get any sleep.

When they were kittens I used to spray them with water and that seemed to work well as far as disciplining them. But that requires me to be there when they do something "bad" and they will just try doing whatever it is later, when I am not around. Plus, I feel pretty silly chasing them around with a spray bottle and trying to say "No!" without laughing at the same time.

Please help me, I really don't want to have to choose between my sanity and my cats.

Where's the title transfer form for this cat?

Kadin2048 — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:32:42 -0800

If I adopt a cat that has an implanted microchip directly from the current owner, how do I get the name and address in the registration database updated to reflect me as the new owner? I'm think I'm going to be adopting a new kitty soon (yay). This would be directly from the current owner, not from a shelter. But kitty came originally from a shelter, and was there implanted with a microchip. I don't know anything about the chip type, and I don't think the current owner does either — except that it was an SPCA shelter, if that helps.

So: what do I need to do, to have the information in the database updated to show my name and address instead of the previous owner's? Do I need to go to the shelter where the cat was originally adopted from, or can any veterinarian or shelter that participates the chip system update records? And what sort of proof do I need to have them make the change — do I need to get a bill of sale or some other form of written transfer agreement?

This can't be that uncommon, but Google isn't turning up anything.

Should I get another dog?

sulaine — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 18:23:35 -0800

How do I decide whether it is a good idea to get another dog? We have an 8 year old golden retriever. We got her as a rescue about 3 years ago. She lived most of her prior life with another dog and 3 cats. She gets along great with other dogs. But she also is often happy to just run by herself. If we go to the dog park, 9 times out of 10, she ignores the other dogs and does her own thing. But, once she knows a dog well, she does seem to enjoy playing and wrestling. We have a nice routine established and I sort think she likes being the only dog in our family.

We had vague plans to get a puppy some time in the next few years, but not now.

I like to browse the listings for dogs on petfinder and at the local rescue groups. Usually I see cute dogs and send them to my sister and then I am over it. But, this one I saw recently really has stuck with me. She is an 11 year old golden retriever and looks surpisingly like my current dog, which is partly why I was so drawn to her. I know rescue groups have a hard time placing older dogs. Her pictures really make her look sweet and sad. I thought about her for a few days and then decided today to just email the group and see if they have had any interest for her. They said no one at all has contacted them about her. They got her a couple weeks before Thanksgiving. They said she is a sweetheart. I have not met her yet.

I feel like I should get her because she needs a home. She is in a foster home now with little kids and other dogs and is often overwhelmed by it all. I also sort of have reservations about another dog (harder to travel/find sitters) when I wasn't really planning to do that soon.

Finally, my questions:
How do I know decide whether or not to get this dog?

Am I setting myself up for heartbreak since she is 11? How do I deal with that?

How do I deal with the guilt of bringing another dog into our perfectly happy only dog home?

Should I just wait for a while and hope someone else adopts her? Is that likely, considering she is 11?

Do cats and dogs in confined spaces with smokers eventually die of lung cancer?

lottie — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 18:26:33 -0800

Holy wheezing chihuahua: Do dogs (and cats and birds) living in confined spaces with their chain smoking human owners eventually die of lung cancer? I've always wondered about those pets who live with heavy smokers. Do they suffer the ill-effects of second hand smoke like a human trapped in the same space eventually would? Are their lives too short? Are they too close to the ground? I'm talking about a really confined space with no windows open, for example.

How do we make web-based scheduling available to patients?

blueberry — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 22:31:48 -0800

Looking for a way to allow people to schedule their vet appointments via the web. My friend is setting up an animal acupressure business out of her home. While she is like Dr. Doolittle when it comes to animals, she's like John McCain when it comes to HTML.

We want to set up a pretty basic web site for her: main page, FAQs page, maybe a page with how-to-get-here directions... however,

here's the gist of the question:

She would like to have a page with a calendar so that people can see appointment availability and also make appointments via that same page (that is, say a client sees there's an opening from 2pm to 6pm on Tuesday, so they click on something and then are able to make an appointment from 2–3pm). The calendar could show a month or a week at a time, but would need to have a "next week/month" and "previous week/month" so people could schedule weeks/months in advance.

Once clients filled out the "schedule appointment" form
(which would ask for [day/time], name, phone number, email address)
and clicked submit, the schedule calendar would be updated so that that block of time would no longer be shown as available for other people to make appointments.

If it matters. there are only two durations of appointments that would be needed: 90 minutes for new clients, and 60 minutes for previous clients. It would be nice if she could somehow tell the scheduling software that after a 90-minute session, she'll need 30 minutes to take care of all of her notes (so she would be unavailable for other appointments), but maybe that's too intricate and she'll just have to book 2-hour slots and then tell the people that it'll actually only be 90 minutes in-office.

Finally, there are two forms that new clients need to fax in before their appointment (an intake form about their animals various info, and a form that just needs the signature of their veterinarian). I was thinking that it would be good to have an automatic confirmation email go out right after the person makes their appointment—the email would say hello, list their appointment date and time, and include a reminder about the need to fax in the two documents.

Is there some sort of web plug-in or something out there that can do this calendar-scheduling this for her?

Right now she has no web page, so if your suggestion requires something specific ("...Such-And-Such requires that your web host be running Apache v4.3 with the retro-encabulator and prefamulated ammulite..."), please let me know so we can choose the proper hosting place.

Also, she's on a Mac, so if you happen to know of any WYSIWYG web page builders out there that would allow her to easily set up something like this on her own, please throw those suggestions my way too.

So just to recap: web-based calendar/scheduling program that she can embed in a page and doesn't need to touch or fiddle with—just look at to see her schedule.

Thanks in advance!

I'd like some tips on clicker training my new dog.

lysistrata — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 08:13:27 -0800

I recently adopted a 2 yr. old Shih Tzu from the pound. He's been to the vet and has a clean bill of health. He's settled very well into things here and I'd like to start working on training him. After reading about several different methods I find clicker training the most interesting but I've never done it before. Anyone have any suggestions or tips? My new dog Ernie is a very smart, very sweet young Shih Tzu. He's outgoing without being hyper or over-excitable. He is inquisitive, curious, gentle and quiet. He's not scared or timid nor is he aggressive in any way toward other animals or people. But he doesn't appear to have been trained. He doesn't even know how to sit at this point. I want to start training him on the basics and I think clicker training looks like a good way to go about things.

Has anyone ever used clicker training? Are there any tips you might have for making the experience a fun and effective one? Anything you wish someone had told you about clicker training before you started that you learned along the way? Do I need to "charge" the clicker (teach the dog to associate it with rewards) before starting to shape behavior? I've read conflicting opinions on whether this is necessary. Any good books I should look out for? Can I do this completely on my own or should I also get us into a class together?

Despite having had dogs for most of my life I've never taken part in any formal training program. My last dog was sort of a little miracle and just seemed to magically learn what I wanted her to do so she spoiled me a little, I suppose. Still, training looks like a lot of fun for both me and Ernie and I'm eager to get started. Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Help stop my dog's pee colonization on my carpet.

anarchivist — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 06:26:13 -0800

I've read related posts on AskMeFi several times, as I've dealt with this before. I know there's something I'm missing. My dog pees in the house, albeit infrequently...except when she's peed in the house recently. I clean up the spots using Nature's Miracle (now Petastic). I do things to discourage her from peeing again near that area (blocking it off, putting her food nearby, etc.). She pees again in close proximity, but not at exactly the same spot. So, what do I do? For what it's worth, she does this most often either when I'm sleeping or while I'm not at home. I've thought about doing the following: steam cleaning my carpets, getting a baby gate to keep her in the foyer while I'm not home. I'm also in a rented apartment, which precludes me from tearing up the carpet and padding.

This Is My Dog, Reginald McPimplewagon

spamguy — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:59:09 -0800

I now own an untitled cat. Inspire me with ridiculous pet names you've encountered. Followup from last week's kitteh post. I adopted a fuzzball [.jpg] today! As predicted, he's freaking out under my bed right now—good call on that.

I have always looked forward to adopting a pet, because I'd get to give it an incredibly stupid, original name. Now that the time has arrived, I'm actually coming up short on ideas. I considered Mega Man and Proto Man, but Wernher von Braun is my top idea right now.

I need inspiration. What pets have you known with unbelievably bizarre names? Real pets only, please; the realm of potential stupid names is infinite.

And they call it...puppy love

littlerobothead — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 16:37:13 -0800

Barring her vet appointment next week, how do I know if my dog is pregnant outside of a hunch? And if she is, what do we do? Much more inside... We adopted a sweet and very friendly Beagle from the SPCA about three weeks ago. She and our somewhat younger Whippett/Terrier mix get along well, and we've liked having her despite the doubling of our pet responsibilities. We believed that she had been used to make litters of hunting dogs (we live in the pseudo-country), and she had pronounced baby feeding apparatus and a slightly poochy belly when she first came home. We were told she was "about two and a half."

Lately, she's been getting more and more food aggressive toward our other dog—who is a bit rambunctious and can be annoying to her, but never fights over food—and has even taken to polishing off her own dinner before getting into his. She spends a lot of time camped out by the doggy door in the kitchen, "just in case." The past two nights, she's lured our other dog outside before returning inside herself, where she guards the doggy door and growls at him when he tries to come back in—sort of like she wants to be alone, and not have him try to play with her. Her belly feels firm, and her teats are getting more pronounced. She isn't fixed yet, but doesn't ever roam free; our dog is neutered so this must have happened before we adopted her.

So, let's say she is pregnant: my wife and I aren't really interested in the mess and stress of delivering puppies and trying to find homes for all of them. We also don't want to give her up all over again to a shelter. We also feel a little imposed upon, since if she is pregnant the chances are pretty good that the shelter knew about it and let us adopt her anyway.

Anyone have experience with a similar situation? What are our options for letting someone else deal with the pregnancy, or is that not even reasonable?

Cost of heartworm treatment (not preventative) in dogs?

junipero — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:23:15 -0800

Is it a bad idea to adopt a rescue dog from a shelter who is "mildly heartworm positive and has begun conservative treatment"? I am strongly considering adopting a pug from a pug rescue shelter in Houston. The dog is currently living with a foster family who I have been in contact with. Unfortunately, the dog is heartworm positive, but has begun treatment.

The shelter's biography of the dog states that he is "mildly heartworm positive". Otherwise he is a healthy three-year-old. I'm mainly concerned about the cost of treatment (which the shelter will split with me), but I'd also like any other input.

i can haz kitteh tiem now?

spamguy — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:08:30 -0800

As a first-time pet owner-to-be, what should I know about adopting a cat? I'm a year-and-a-half out of college with my own apartment. I've concluded there's a hole in my life that can only be filled with a vibrating, vomiting ball of fuzz. Some call them 'cats.'

I've lived with pets all my life, but I've never personally owned one. At some point in the next couple weeks I intend to pick up a number of kitteh necessities, followed soon by visiting the local animal shelter and adopting a kitteh. It would definitely be full-grown.

Having never done this before, I'm incredibly nervous about taking the plunge. I pay the fee, carry it home in a box, and then...what? I've got the love-it-to-bits part covered, but I figure there's more. What should I be doing in the first couple weeks with a newly adopted kitteh to make it not drop dead on me?

Pet vet on the 'net yet?

pseudostrabismus — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:17:43 -0800

For minor pet health questions: suggest websites that are comprehensive & user-friendly? I'd like to avoid unnecessary vet visits. Last week my cat had runny eyes for no apparent reason, and googling common search terms (cat+eye+discharge, etc) led me to a lot of annoying sites jam-packed with ads, poor user design, and sketchy-sounding information. (He's fine, now, by the way. I imagine his cat allergies were acting up or something.)

I'd like a pet health website with comprehensive, searchable entries offering detailed and specific information about animal health issues. Everything should be explained in terms geared to the literate layman- in other words, use of Latin terminology is fine if it's explained plainly and intelligently, rather than cut & pasted from a vet textbook in indigestible hunks, or dumbed down into single syllable hyperbole in the vein of POOR KITTEH OH NOES! VET TIME HURRY! Levelheadedness would be a plus, as not every sneeze needs a visit to a vet. I'd love to see stuff like "If your cat is breathing fine, it's ok to wait out the sneezes or a week or so. After 10 days, if it's not better- or if the cat is gasping- it could be problem X or Y, so take him to the vet."

Can anyone recommend such a site?
Thanks in advance!

PS, Personally, I'm most interested in cats, but I'm sure other users would appreciate sites relevant to their pets too. So if you know the #1 health resource for the spiny echidna or whatever, well, shoot!

Cat House?

Faithos — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:58:24 -0800

Can anyone recommend a good pet boarding facility in New York City? When in I lived in California, I used a place that let healthy kitties run and around play during the day. I would like to find something similar in NYC (basically a place that doesn't keep the cats locked up in a cage 24 hours/day), but Google is failing me.

Realllllly Bad Situation

symbollocks — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:35:55 -0800

My friend needs suggestions and advice for a bad situation he's in. His dad has a compressed vertebrate and is dealing with a lot of pain. In trying to deal with his pain he has become addicted to (prescription) narcotics. He can only walk with the aid of a cane. He works at a news station.

His mother has a sciatic nerve problem and a compressed vertebrate. She too is in a lot of pain and takes a lot of narcotics to deal with it, though she is not addicted, she is still out of it for much of the day. She works as a nurse at a local community center. She too can barely walk, except with the aid of a walker.

My friend is 21, he is living at home and helping his parents as much as he can. He is unemployed, after being fired from a food service job and being forced to sell off his car after it broke down for good. He has a suspended license, and has 6 tickets for driving with a suspended license. The next time he gets pulled over for that the consequences are greater than a mere ticket, possible arrest or more.

He would like to get a job so he can help more, but it's hard to get one when the phone is often disconnected. That and he does not have reliable transportation, as his parents have only two cars, one of which is about to be broken down for good.

His parents have a lot of pets, which they are (for the most part) unable to take care of themselves, due to their health problems. He has to take care of these pets.

They are currently heating their house with 3 space heaters, and had previously been using the oven, which is now shot.

They will most likely be getting evicted sometime in the next few months due to financial problems. Their financial problems are primarily due to their health problems. They have health insurance, but it does not cover very much.

There is often no food in the house for days at a time. I subsidized them recently with a box of dumpstered bagels, after they had gone for 3 days without food.

What solutions exist for a guy in a horrible situation like this? or for his parents? Anything, even just to stabilize the situation.

He has given me permission to post this question and I can provide feedback if there are further questions.

Oh, and please, no pity comments. He's got a truckload of that stuff already.

Poems for dogs

Sijeka — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 03:40:11 -0800

I am looking for poems, anectotes and short stories online which celebrate dogs and their friendship. This is to cheer my boyfriend, whose family's pet who is very ill. My boyfriend's dog Ruigh is very ill and might be put down tomorrow. Although the dog now lives with his mother, the pet was his late childhood/teen years' friend and a very brave, funny and stubborn animal (who also happened to love liquorice sweets... Go figure). I would like to send my boyfriend poems, short stories or anectotes celebrating dogs, and would love some suggestions. Extra bonus points if the text is available on the Internet.

Many thanks!

Sudden Cat Aggression in Previously Harmonious Household - Help!

MsElaineous — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 06:07:57 -0800

One of my cats (male, neutered) has suddenly become violently aggressive against another of my cats (female, spayed). Both cats still interact well with our other three cats, so this seems to be something just between the two of them. I will be consulting my vet, but, assuming there is nothing physically wrong with either cat that may be triggering this (and both cats behave entirely normally when separated from each other), what can be done to heal this rift, which is seriously upsetting our multi-cat household? We have 5 indoor cats, who have lived together for several years. They are not just tolerant of each other, but all genuinely comfortable/affectionate/playful. All five are spayed/neutered, have their claws, 2 male, three female.

This past week has been stressful for them, because my M-I-L has been staying with us, but they have generally been ok. I came home from work Monday night to find tufts of black fur, urine and feces (apparently expelled during the fight) in our hall, and the two cats involved (black cat and white cat, for reference) yowling at each other in the bedroom. I did not witness the initial fight or know what started it. Our other three cats retreated to the crawlspaces in the basement and would not come out for a day.

We have isolated black cat, who appears to be the victim and needs the security (isolated means either office or bedroom. She sees us regularly and sleeps with us). Once the other cats came up from the basement, they got along fine with white cat, and when we brought them in to visit black cat, they were fine with her too. So this is an issue solely between white cat and black cat.

Last night, white cat wriggled his way into the bedroom, and basically immediately attacked black cat (details are fuzzy, it was 2 am). Repeat of last time- screaming, running, scratching, other cats hiding in basement. Black cat bled a little from a scratch, but is otherwise well.

This is unprecedented behavior in our house and very upsetting to everyone.

Right now I am considering rotating isolation, so black cat is isolated one day and white cat the next. My mother bought us some faux "cat pheromone" spray that is really just dilute essential oils that purport to have a calming influence. I am spraying them everywhere. My M-I-L is leaving today. I will be contacting my vet today. That is all I have in my bag of tricks right now.

If you have experienced anything like this yourself and have strategies for helping the cats reclaim their equilibrium, I would really appreciate hearing them.

Building a better dog

cedar — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 07:51:03 -0800

I would like to affix glow sticks to a dog. Clearly, staples are not the way to go, but I was wondering if there was a such thing as pet safe glue?

What airlines will get me from Phoenix to New York City with three adult cats?

Optimus Chyme — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 12:44:11 -0800

What airlines will get me from Phoenix to New York City with three adult cats? Failing that, can you recommend anyone who does live animal shipment? I moved to New York and left my cats with sitters in Phoenix while I found an apartment. I have an apartment now and would like to retrieve my cats. My plan was to a) fly back to PHX and fly them back out to NYC with me or b) have them shipped out here via a live animal transport service.

I know, for instance, that Southwest doesn't allow pets at all. What airlines are the most pet-friendly?

With respect to shippers, I got an eye-popping $1500 estimate from Precious Pet Transport, which I will be happy to spend if there are no other options available. Do you know of better or less expensive pet transport companies?

Flying back and renting a car is out of the question due to time and cost constraints; my research indicates that it would be the most expensive option other than building them a rocketship out of gold.

I am open to any suggestions or advice you may have. Thank you!

In the doghouse

spicynuts — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 06:49:38 -0800

Ethics/legality of doghouses in winter states. What are the laws and animal cruelty considerations of keeping a dog outside in a doghouse during working hours in winter cold/summer heat? I have been briefly (that means only casually) entertaining the idea of adopting an older dog, however, the research I've done on costs of dog walkers is prohibitive. I have a very large back deck, but due to back walls being all glass, cannot install a doggie door. My instinct says that it is most likely inhumane to force a dog to spend my working hours in a dog house on the deck during the extremes of heat and cold that New York City is subject to, but I thought perhaps there are certain breeds that could handle it. Before I go any further with this idea, I'd like to hear from actual experts/people who have dogs. Is it 100% out of the question both legally and ethically to build a dog house and keep the dog in it during the day in winter/summer or are there breeds that could handle it without this being cruel/illegal?

How can I keep my apartment free of cat fur?

bchaplin — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 12:10:22 -0800

[Cat fur filter]: What's the best way to keep my apartment free of cat fur? I have two indoor cats in a smallish carpeted apartment. I vacuum thoroughly at least once a week, and wipe down kitchen surfaces daily, but the fur still gets EVERYWHERE. I am surprised and disgusted to find it coating the top of kitchen surfaces, inside my drawers, literally everywhere. I can only conclude that the fur is airborne, possibly stirred up by the open windows and my two ceiling fans.

The cats pretty much stick to sitting on their cat trees, two pieces of furniture, and the floor. They never get on the counters or table. They get very high quality cat food, FWIW. All the places they sit are thoroughly vacuumed when I do the weekly cleaning.

I can't really up the cleaning schedule due to other commitments. In short, I'd rather throw money rather than time at the problem. So what could I invest in that would help me have a cleaner environment?

Would air filters in every room solve the problem? (Though my windows are open all summer so they may be of limited use.) Or a better vacuum cleaner? (A full-size vacuum absolutely won't fit, and I'm currently using a canister style vacuum.)

Outdoor insect spray used indoors...what now?

NormandyJack — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 13:35:24 -0800

Outdoor insect spray used indoors...what now? I live in an apartment (in the US). Our bathroom window has a hornets nest. The apartment utilities guy/handyman came by today to remove the window so the exterminator could get at the nest. While he was taking the window off, a small swarm of hornets made their way indoors. The handyman asked if i had anything. I didnt. But i remembered an old bottle of flying insect spray someone had left on our back porch.

Given the imminent threat of angry hornets, the spray was used liberally in our bathroom. I had the forethought to remove things like toothbrushes, but not enough forethought to remove the shower curtain, bathmat, towels, robe, etc (i didn't expect to have to spray poison indoors).

Looking at the can of spray now, it's outdoors only (as usual/expected).

The three listed active ingredients are Tetramethrin .10% , Permethrin .25% and Piperonyl Butoxide .5%.

I have two cats.

What now?

Do I need to throw everything that was in there out?

Do I need to be worried about the cats?

In the event that things do need to be discarded or cats taken to the vet am I in any position to ask for money from my landlord?

Thanks.

Purebred vs. Pound Purries?

Metroid Baby — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 12:04:20 -0800

Is there a compelling argument in favor of getting a purebred cat instead of adopting a shelter kitty? I've always been something of a crazy cat lady. I do not currently live with any pets and I have no immediate plans to get any, but I've been giving serious consideration to getting a cat within the next few years.

There are quite a few cat breeds I'm smitten with, and if I find a reputable breeder nearby specializing in one of those breeds, I'd absolutely consider getting a cat from there. However, I know I'd also be happy with a moggy from a shelter. I've owned and cared for both mixed breeds and purebreds, and my free-to-good-home tabby was just as awesome as my pedigreed grand-champion-lineage Turkish Van. And although there are some differences from breed to breed in size and personality, it's generally not as dramatic a difference as with dogs, e.g. a Great Dane vs. a Chihuahua, so apart from some basic considerations (minimal grooming, non-extreme personality), it's not necessary that I own a specific type of cat. I have no preference regarding gender of the cat I eventually get, either, or whether it's a kitten or an adult.

Given that I'd be happy with nearly any feline companion, I can think of countless reasons in favor of adopting a shelter cat over getting a purebred: it's cheaper, there are more shelters near me than CFA-registered catteries, I'll have more of a selection, I could save a kitty from euthanasia, breeding cats for certain features can have negative effects – the list goes on.

On the other hand, I can't think of much that tips the scale in favor of a purebred. I have no intention of breeding or showing cats - this would be a neutered indoor pet. Supporting a breeder who does what he loves, maybe? Promoting awareness of the cat fancy and such-and-such rare and beautiful breed? That seems a little weak.

Aside from "but I really want an Abyssinian," are there any good reasons to get a purebred?

Or is adopting from a shelter the obvious choice that it seems to be?

There are a couple compromises I've considered: adopting through a purebred rescue organization is an option, but they generally have few cats available; fewer still that aren't Persians (one of the few breeds I don't care for). I've thought of getting both a purebred and a shelter cat, but I'd rather have only one cat. And I know that there are breeders out there who rehome their older cats, but I'm not sure what that entails or if it's a good idea.

Any input is appreciated, though I'm currently not looking for advice choosing a breed, and I've already got plenty of reasons to favor adopting from a shelter so I'm not so much looking for that. Thanks!

Cat spit mystery: Why am I allergic to one of our cats, but not the other?

lottie — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 18:58:11 -0800

Cat spit mystery: Why am I allergic to one of our cats, but not the other? We have two cats; Polly, a Russian blue girl, and Eddie, a stripy boy of unknown/mixed origin. I love them both, but for some very odd reason, I'm allergic to Eddie's spit. I know this because any time he licks me on the hand, say, or brushes his moist nose on exposed skin it immediately becomes itchy, and I get a raised, welty area. This subsides in an hour or so and isn't much of a drama, but what is interesting to me is the welt always looks exactly like the area his saliva or nose touched - say, for example, if you for some reason decided to trace a big X on my wrist with his nose, I would get a big, red, itchy X on my skin. If I'm in a confined space with Eddie, I launch into classic uncontrollable sneeze response, which I assume is linked to dander specific to Eddie.

I don't need a solution to this problem - it's not such a big deal, but I'm really interested to know why I would be allergic to one cat and not the other. Polly, being Russian Blue, is much fluffier, but I have no response to her saliva or fur whatsoever.

I'm curious - what's the deal with Eddie's spit? I thought from an allergy perspective a cat was a cat was a cat.

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?