Some thoughts on pet ownership

ozgirl said:
Thank you to the kind people who've repped me and PM'd me about writing this, especially the erudite jedd_kenobi, who realised my timing has something to do with Xmas. There are still people who think a puppy (or kitten) is a good surprise Xmas gift. It isn't.
I don't want people to stop owning pets, I was just trying to be helpful.
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dammit now i'm going to have to look up erudite and find out what that means... :lol:
 
I think this is a really good idea, being a devoted cat owner myself. Fortunately, most (emphasis on the most) people on here seem to be responsible people and judging but the "post a pic of your pets" thread, they are devoted to their animals and ensuring they are well cared for. I know a lot of people here are spouting "we know this already, what's the point, etc"- problem is, a lot of people don't know about this stuff. For example, I always though that flea collars alone were adequate protection from fleas for my cat, and I have never been told otherwise by any of the vets we have been to. I know now that next time I go to the vet I will be asking them to prescribe something for him to protect from fleas.

I think something else we could do with this thread is to make it into a Q&A/advice thread of pets and pet care. People can ask questions and others (not just ozgirl, I know that there are plenty of knowledgable people in relation to pet care on here) can answer it. I've done this before in relation to my cat in Random Thoughts, but stuff like that seems to get lost in there very quickly.

So I'll start:

Tick care for cats- you hear about the Frontline protection stuff for dogs and all that from ticks, but nothing about cats. I make sure I check my cat often for ticks (as they are pretty common over here), but his fur is pretty thick and I always worry I'm going to miss something. I saw a poster for a spray for cats to protect from ticks in the vet's office the other day, but I forgot to ask about it. Does anybody know of any other preventative things for ticks like that one/the same as that one? Anybody with pets in Australia knows that ticks can be really dangerous.

Also, general question, is anybody else's cat purely scared of the garbage truck and no other trucks? Admittedly, the garbage truck does sound different to most other trucks, but even the regular trucks that sound similar don't faze him. I'm assuming the fear stems from when he got hit by a car when he was young. He's also scared of thunder, but that;s normal from what i can gather.

Again, thankyou Ozgirl, I appreciate you taking the time to make sure that we are aware of all the committments and details of owning a pet. :)
 
brydiem said:
* snips * To save dial up users' line time

Again, thankyou Ozgirl, I appreciate you taking the time to make sure that we are aware of all the committments and details of owning a pet. :)
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Pets aren?t allowed in my apartment, so I don?t have any, but I have learnt some interesting info. And agree with Bridiem. :)
 
brydiem said:
Tick care for cats- you hear about the Frontline protection stuff for dogs and all that from ticks, but nothing about cats. I make sure I check my cat often for ticks (as they are pretty common over here), but his fur is pretty thick and I always worry I'm going to miss something. I saw a poster for a spray for cats to protect from ticks in the vet's office the other day, but I forgot to ask about it. Does anybody know of any other preventative things for ticks like that one/the same as that one? Anybody with pets in Australia knows that ticks can be really dangerous.

Also, general question, is anybody else's cat purely scared of the garbage truck and no other trucks? Admittedly, the garbage truck does sound different to most other trucks, but even the regular trucks that sound similar don't faze him. I'm assuming the fear stems from when he got hit by a car when he was young. He's also scared of thunder, but that;s normal from what i can gather.

Again, thankyou Ozgirl, I appreciate you taking the time to make sure that we are aware of all the committments and details of owning a pet. :)
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Well I can volunteer some info on the tick meds on the US market at least. Frontline Plus kills fleas and ticks and IS available for cats. Regular Frontline is flea only, but now that I think about it, I haven't seen it in a while. The only vet sold spray I've seen is actually also Frontline (although I'm not sure if it's a house spray or a pet spray). Another common cat flea/tick medicine is Revolution which also kills mites/mange and prevents heartworm in dogs. The last common one is Advantage (which I think is named differently overseas) that only works on fleas but it has a reputation for working better on fleas than Frontline HERE. That's kind of a long story though. There are several other less common meds including but not limited to Advantix, Advantage Multi, Promeris.

It's important to read the directions on your flea medicine carefully to make sure you use it safely and effectively. It's very important to get meds from your vet to make sure you have an appropriate one because some are ok for dogs but VERY toxic to cats (Advantix), even cats only live with the dog, some may require a test before being prescribed (Revolution) or any of a number of other concerns. There are also counterfeit and expired meds for sale from outside sources. You don't want that do you!

As for scardey cats, mine is afraid of his own reflection so he's not good to compare with. :-D
 
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I will back ozgirl all the way on this.

I used to breed cats. Maine Coons to be specific.

However, I saw too many backyard breeders, or people who wanted a present for their kid to occupy them, and looked at them as a disposable item..*shudders*

Neutering or spaying your pet is a must! All kittens I homed were by contract already fixed, and asked to be an indoor kitty.

Also, like the others are saying..a monthly flea prevention program is a must. I use Capstar every now and then. But Frontline is my fave. Stay away from anything made by Hartz, like shampoos flea collars and such you buy at your local store. And again, never use anything made for dogs on your cats!

http://cats.about.com/cs/healthissues/a/permethrin.htm




And if you don't like this thread on pet ownership...why did you click on it and read it?
 
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In my personal experience, I have also found flea collars to be absolutely useless in controlling fleas. The only thing they did was smell nasty and gave my dear departed Siamese a skin irritation (he had a lot of allergies). Flea powders also irritated him and were nasty to apply - also causing me to suffer reactions. Shampoo did seem to work, but.....cats don't like to be lathered in shampoo. It turned my incredibly docile old fart of a cat into a scratching snarling beast trying to rip my arms open! The only thing that worked for him was Advantage serum as prescribed by the vet. Our current felines have yet to show any evidence of fleas, and since the weather has warmed up down here we're always keeping eye on them to see if they're scratching all the time or if there are any signs of flea activity (ie: poo!) in the fur etc..

I pretty much agree with everything you have said!

BTW. My family's two felines were adopted from an RSPCA shelter, the two Siamese (RIP) we had before them, came from a respectable local breeder. :)
 
Regarding #5, we used flea/tick collars on our last dog and she never had any problems with them. Cleo, however, didn't react well. She would drool excessively and that's not a good sign.

We now use a combination of a seasonal oral medication (which is anti-worm medication as well) and a product called "Revolution", which is a completely safe topical liquid applied to the skin of the lower neck that repels and kills the little pests.

lolwut at #6 ... who expects not to be required to pay their vet bill? :blink:

*Cleo pokes her head in to see what's going on*
https://pic.armedcats.net/e/ep/epp_b/2009/11/26/let_me_in_please.jpg
 
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arranging to get my dog neutered was one of the first things i got done. she was only around 3 months old puppy when i first got her and had to wait a bit for her to grow before she could have been neutered (i don't know the full reasons but i think she needed to be 6 months or so to have been neutered).
i think also part of the problem is that kids and families see puppies as being all cute and everything and they don't see the amount of time it takes with that puppy. sure a puppy is cute but it needs to be house trained and an array of other things that andrex tissue ads don't show. of course it don't help either that various hollywood celebrities seem to show off their pets as fashion accessories.
also thanks to that american girl for pointing out what erudite means... guess its true that they say you learn something new everyday.
 
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ozgirl said:
We prefer to wait til an animal is 6 months for neutering because it allows the body's organ systems time to mature. The liver and kidneys have to metabolise the anaesthetic drugs, so we want them to have developed. It also means the animal is bigger - the smaller the size the higher the GA risk. That's why I hate anaesthetising rats/hamsters etc!
Some charities/shelters do animals younger, to increase their chances of adoption. There's quite a bit of debate amongst vets on this, but hey ask 3 vets any vet question and you'll get 3 different answers! :p

We (most of us) do like to spay bitches before their first season, as research shows that reduces their risk of mammary tumours later by 33%.

I'm so happy to hear about all the rescue animals FG members have :thumbsup:
It's one of the things I really like about my British clients, how many of them have taken on someone else's "mistake". I haven't worked in Oz for a long time so it may be different, but people there still seemed to want the cute puppy or kitten, and they're still sold in pet shops! :mad:
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PS Thanks to flydiscovery and That American Girl for their posts, links and PM's :bow:
 
ozgirl said:
I'm so happy to hear about all the rescue animals FG members have :thumbsup:
It's one of the things I really like about my British clients, how many of them have taken on someone else's "mistake". I haven't worked in Oz for a long time so it may be different, but people there still seemed to want the cute puppy or kitten, and they're still sold in pet shops! :mad:
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I'm not entirely sure the internet is big enough for me to list all the rescue animals that have been through my home in the last 5 years. :p At the moment it's cross-eyed avatar cat and a fluffy white and gray guinea pig.

There are plenty of cool pet owners in Oz on my guinea pig care board. One lady went through hell and high water to get her disabled pig to come with her from Perth to Canada AND she was successful! I figure if there are people willing to take really good care of a little rodent, there are tons more taking good cars of other animals.

Puppies and kittens are still sold in dodgy pet stores in the US as well :mad: They're really expensive and more often sick than not. As a matter of fact, I haven't heard of any species of animal that's healthy from a pet store. One of the techs at my exotics vet was saying that cockatiels now don't live nearly as long as cockatiels 10-15 years older. Just a random example. I hear stories about people buying sick hamsters and bunnies, birds and ratties. Pet stores that sell animals stink. :-(

Anyway, I always glad when more people knew about flea collars. It's so hard to watch people buy them in stores, and the really cheap spot-on flea medicines too. It's hard to believe they can still be sold with as much as we know about how toxic they are.
 
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Regarding flea treatment, my cats are on Revolution because it also protects against mosquitoes, which carry heartworms. You have to have a prescription to get it, but it's worth it. Heartworms are absolutely nasty and cause permanent damage.

As for pet stores, I'm always so ambivalent about the animals there. On the one hand, I wish no one would buy pets from them so the market would disappear and they'd stop selling them. On the other, every time I see the animals in tiny cages doing nothing I want to take them home with me and give them a better life.

Luckily, I have my two sweet kitties already, and can't get more, so I don't have to choose. But it still breaks my heart.
 
My black kitty, Ravage was a stray. One of the best cats I've had. And yes, he is named after the Decepticon Ravage...minion of Soundwave.:thumbsup:

And yeah, I hate the fact that pet supply stores can carry pets.

Several stores here have them, and are sometimes closed for 2 days or more on the Holidays.

Makes me wonder if anyone goes in to feed water and exercise them and all.....
 
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My old kitty was a shelter kitty. Couldn't have asked for a better pet, IMHO. :)
 
It's fairly common knowledge that animals are vey often treated wrong or badly and that almost all "accidents" that happen with dogs in particular, are the result of false treatment by the owners. It doesn't necessarily mean they're treated badly but with dogs you also have to show them who's boss and not spoil them, otherwise they'll try to become the alpha male in the "family pack".

A pet is not a human being and you can actually mistreat it by loving it too much.

And a tip for those out there who know (or believe to know) how to do it right: Simply ignore such a topic instead of bitching about it. There are many, many people out there who need the advice and if you ask me, some of them need to get the lesson together with a hammer over their heads to beat out the stupidity.

I got my cat from the animal shelter, when he was one year old, and you only need to talk to the folks there to learn about things people did to animals, that make you furious. It's a real eye opener.

4140587604_7fbfb09d0c.jpg
 
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That American Girl said:
My black kitty, Ravage was a stray. One of the best cats I've had. And yes, he is named after the Decepticon Ravage...minion of Soundwave.:thumbsup:

And yeah, I hate the fact that pet supply stores can carry pets.

Several stores here have them, and are sometimes closed for 2 days or more on the Holidays.

Makes me wonder if anyone goes in to feed water and exercise them and all.....
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My local pet supply stores that carry pets feature shelter animals that get taken home at night if not adopted out.
 
We love our King Charles Cavalier Spaniel - he is not too bright tho' - er like his owner. But I agree -

1. He is not a person,
2. You can spoil the dog by not being consistent and making sure he know his place in the family pack.

Poor thing has had lots of health issues 9,000 GBP's (Mrs has the bills I'll check exactly how much) worth, fortunately he is insured which has covered most cost issues - bad infestation of lung worm, fused back vertebrae and a new hip.
 
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