Let’s see your pets cause they are the best companion you can have!!!!!

[El Barto]

Zappa, the mini bull terrier

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[Dan in Pasadena]

We call the Aussie Doodle the Lorax. Her human eyes creep me out. HAHAHA

Our new 14 month old Doodle is of indeterminate heritage so far. She was advertised as a Labradoodle but she doesn’t look like one and the vet said, “Nah. She’s a Spoodle”. I asked if she thought a Cockapoo and she said no, some other kind of spaniel. I hate to spend $100 to test her but I’m tempted. She super affectionate and her gold eyes and pretty face feel like she’s communicating telepathically!

She was kept in a small suburban 2 bed/1 bath house backyard and her owners both worked. The lady was VERY pregnant and they had a small child too so she got very little attention and no socialization at all. We’re working on it but I don’t know if we can offset it since socialization occurs when they're true puppies.

 

[DCPHOENIX]

Alfie the Jack Russel. Destroyer of many, many pest birds.
Absolutely in love with his human sister. Even though she tries to dress him constantly

 

[FloridaJT6MT]

That's my Boy with the Judge and handler. He is now a AKC Champion with a herding and obedience title. Lots of camping trips planned in the future with the JT.

Congrats! Beautiful Berner. Mine has AKC………..papers……

 

[aldaman]

My Frenchie & Pit

 

[CoachA]

I have owned dogs my whole life and some other animals as well. I had a pet Raccoon when I was in 6th grade and my sister had a pet skunk lol can’t believe what my parents let us do. I have owned some horses as well and now my daughter has a Gypsy Vanner Pony. I feel animals keep us entertained, caring, family and incredible companions in life. So share your pets pictures so we can show off our favorite companions and favorite rides as well.

My current crew of 5 rescues. 5 seems to be my magic number for number of dogs for whom I can afford proper veterinary care and provide adequate time, attention, training and exercise.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Sadly (very much so), I suspect I'm about to lose one of my long-time buddies.
He wandered on, singing for a handout back in about 2008 and my wife either felt sorry for him or wanted him to stop singing, so she fed him........ He's been attached to me ever since that day (and she keeps reminding him WHO exactly fed him first)
Best the vet could tell, he was probably a couple of years old when he came to us. He'd had a rough life, roughing it, scrounging for meals. He remained an inside/outside cat for years until one evening while he was on my lap I noticed a wet area on his neck and parted fur - and a hole so deep I could see into his neck. Vet said he found another wound on the opposite side and they looked like fang marks. Whatever got him must have been large. From then on, much to his dismay, he was inside only.
While he was outside, he followed me everywhere which sort of complicated things a bit so having him inside only took care of that, the fear he'd get into things best not gotten into, whatever.
I figure, best we can tell, he's likely a strong 15 years old now and for an outdoors cat, that's a long life, about what's expected for an inside cat. He's not eating well at all, has trouble holding food down and in the last few months has lost half his body weight. He still jumps up into the bathroom sink to get a drink from the faucet when I run water, he's not lost that skill, but I can tell he's not comfortable no matter how he lays and can't seem to stay on my lap like he used to. He used to climb up and stay for a couple of hours if I let him. Now it's maybe 20 minutes and he's off to find another spot and acts sort of restless a lot.
It would be better for me if he went to sleep and that was that, but I have a feeling that isn't going to happen. He's strong willed and isn't going to let go easy.
Trying to prep myself for that eventual reality, I spent the last couple of hours trying to find and go through photos.

2008, learning about cameras -

Always has to know where I am.........

Ham -

Loves sleeping on my face -

Ever try to keep a splint on a cat? He ended up with a broken toe bone somehow and this had to be put back on 3 times -

Today, he's just a shadow of his former self. Thin, fur not as nice, can't eat much at a time, or very easily so I give him a teaspoon of treat food several times a day (and keep that big pig cat Pickle away - that food thief)

This is going to be a really tough week for sure.

 

[Rusty PW]

It's really tough when you lose a pet that has been real close to you. You're preparing yourself for that time. When it does, you fine yourself still not prepared for it. I lost 4 dogs over the years. And it hurt each time. It still hurts when I think about them. Wish you the best of luck with this.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

It's really tough when you lose a pet that has been real close to you. You're preparing yourself for that time. When it does, you fine yourself still not prepared for it. I lost 4 dogs over the years. And it hurt each time. It still hurts when I think about them. Wish you the best of luck with this.

Thank you. I appreciate it.
Ya know I'm a cat person, but it doesn't matter, you bond. It's proven, the bond is there and it's real. And the more you treat them like family, the tighter and closer that bond is.
Lucky seeks out my wife when she wants support or acknowledgement. My wife dotes over Lucky. Lucky was a teeny kitten I rescued a few years ago, she somehow made it to your yard and sat crying so loud I could hear her in my shop and my wife heard her in the house - with the windows closed. She was maybe 3 or 4 weeks old, tops - how that kitten made it through the woods, across creeks and ravines, or - from the other side, across a street with speeding traffic and big wooded fields on the other side, I don't know. My wife insisted - ARL! (Animal Rescue League) as we already had 4 - but I softened her up and now those two are BFFs.
Yawnie instantly took to me. Twice I have taken him to the vet for various things and the vets have said "he's a very emotional cat" - they were right. His face is expressive, he looks you in the eyes. He lays on my lap at times, and from time to time will look up at me to see if I notice him, and if I look back at him, he smiles and lays his head back down. Even Walt Disney, a self-proclaimed dog person, said cats have that ability and are the only such animal to have all of the muscles necessary for smiles and other expressions.

Several years ago during a routine check-up, the vet showed me Yawnie's teeth, and an x-ray showing that he had a couple of teeth broken off just below the gum line that had developed abscesses - and it would eventually kill him. The vet said he had to have been in pain and it had to be trouble eating. Likely in his outdoor cat history, he'd had some troubles and ended up losing a couple of teeth, and a couple being broken.
I OK'd the surgery to remove the nasty tooth remains and clean things up in there, do whatever repairs were needed. It was really strange, in a way hard to explain, but Yawnie was a very different cat after that. His attachment to me grew even bigger, noticeably so, I mean really, and he looked at me in different ways as if he knew what I'd done. He was my buddy before, but when I got him back from his hospital stay it was almost as if he was thanking me, like he knew that he felt better because of that vet visit.
Of course the time with the broken toe - all of the vets and assistants there just treated him as if he was the cutest and sweetest thing that ever lived. Oh, poor baby, oh, you poor thing, oh, you're so sweet, and on and on and I swear no one got any work done until they took him in for x-ray and to get the splint and wrap put on. Then a few days later when he pulled out of it, and I took him back, it's like everything in there stopped until their star baby was taken care of. What a suck-up he was. Had the girls fawning all over him (wish he'd tell me his secret!!!!!)
When I took him in to have him checked over after we decided he was a keeper, the vet pegged him at about 2 years, not likely any older. That was 2008. So that puts him somewhere in the 2006 area. So 15 maybe 16. I've been trying to refresh what i knew about cats and some say 13 to 17 years average for an indoor cat.
If he had remained an outdoor cat, that would be considered a long life. For an indoor cat, it's pretty typical. He's been both.
I'm trying to temper feelings with reality (not easy for me and what I've inherited) and it helps to find that a 16 year old cat is roughly equal to an 80 year old person. So I supposed if he's 15 to 16, that means he's 76 to 80 in people years.

Barbara yesterday insisted that today be Yawnie's last day. I think I won him some more time by brushing him, trimming bad spots from his coat, special feeding him and proving that barf wasn't his because it had a gray hairball in it and Yawnie is orange.
But if I see signs that he's suffering (other than being old and slow) I'll have to rethink things myself.

Punkin was 2 or 3 weeks shy of 19 years when I started to notice that he wasn't quite finished with the poo business when he left his litter box, but I wasn't sure if it was him, or one of the others. Then I was sitting in my office chair at my desk, and like Punkin used to do, he'd come to me for attention, wind around my leg and look up at me but this time his back end dropped to the floor as he tried to walk and he had a really confused worried look on his face. He got back up, trotted up the stairs with me, then up in the kitchen, he was walking toward me and his back legs went out from under him again, again, that confused look like what's wrong with me. That explained the litter box - he had started to lose control over his hind quarters, lost muscle control. He had also lost over half his body weight. But at 19, and his 15 year history of thyroid issues (and on meds for that many years) he'd blown away vet's predictions on life expectancy of a cat with thyroid issues. It hurt, but 19, long term health issues........ even he knew.

Anyway, I'm trying hard to prep for what's to come....... my preference, he pass quietly in the night while he and I are both asleep.

 

[CoachA]

Top photo: Flapjack (near), Daisy (far)
Bottom photo: L to R - Cooper, Magoo, Kobe
You need not ask me twice to share my non-human companion family members.
At the risk of offending (don’t care if I do), I wonder about the intelligence and self-awareness of some members of this, and other forums, and our species in general, who share their affection for non-human animals we arbitrarily call “pets”, while celebrating their domination and murder (hunting and/or consuming) of other sentient species they call “meat” or “prey species”.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I wonder about the intelligence and self-awareness of some members of this, and other forums, and our species in general, who share their affection for non-human animals we arbitrarily call “pets”, while celebrating their domination and murder (hunting and/or consuming) of other sentient species they call “meat” or “prey species”.

First - the family members - great pics, love the names....... Flapjack? I bet there's a story there.

As to the other, can it really be answered without getting moral, religious, or whatever?
I get what you are saying - and I'll expand on that in a bit, but it can also be "justified" in many ways. "Nature". That's one answer. African plains - what gets eaten and by what? Cattle are the food, crocs, cats, even humans have eaten the cattle of the wild, buffalo, etc. for many thousands of years. And then - the big cats ate humans, too, so there's that, for that matter, so did the dogs of the planet. So ask yourself (please, before this gets too deep and blocked or deleted) - when your dog licks you, is that affection, or cleaning a meal for later?
JUST KIDDING! It's a possible sign of ownership and territory.

Back on the topic of "other animals". Some here know my first wife was a farmer's daughter. After the boss sold his shop and a corporate owner took over, employees were leaving in droves (hmmm, like cattle?) and I was one of them. My FIL asked if I was interested in farming......... anyway, to cut 2 chapters of this out, I moved north and took up farming. Life changes, people change, divorce happened........ I needed more income than strictly grain or row crops would provide (child support, tractor payments, etc.)
So a neighbor big into hogs was wanting to expand but was running out of space. I had a nice barn and feed lot. I fed out feeder pigs under contract with my neighbor and good friend (and bar buddy after the divorce - man, he could put 'em away) Being OCD and ADHD, I paid a lot of attention to the pigs and feeder settings and kept things clean and comfy for them. I learned that pigs will actually prefer to keep their sleeping areas clean if allowed to, and are extremely intelligent creatures. It was time for market - the largest ones were ready. Tom took an orange chalk and marked the backs of those he thought were big enough. In the process, one of the pigs I named "Spot" was feeling frisky and wanted to play. He'd run back and forth and do everything he could to stop Tom from marking any of the others. It was so funny to watch this pig play and taunt him.
The barn had Dutch door setup for the two front doors facing the yard. When Tom left to go get his trailer, and I was outside, Spot went to the door, top half open, and front legs hanging up over the top of the bottom door half and stood there and looked at me as if to get my approval.
He was one of the smaller pigs so it was a later time for him, but he'd eat sweat corn cobs and water melon rind out of my hand, position himself so I could scratch him behind his ears and was in a way like some dogs might act. I really believe he could have made a great pet - uh, with enough space, that is.
Sadly, next time, a few days later, Tom was marking pigs for market again and Spot started taunting him again, dashing back and forth. Tom said one more time buddy, and you go next. I had really mixed feelings when Spot rushed at Tom, and Tom kept his word............

I believe our relationship with other animals is what we make of it, what we want it to be. Like humans - not every person can be a perfect match with every other person - not all people would bond with all animals, and some animals won't get along well with some people.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Mama's girl, Lucky, until mama wants to use machine and Lucky has other ideas -

I nick-named this kitty "Fluffy-Butt" - if you saw her standing, you'd understand.

 

[MikeyK]

Speaking of old friends, the Dane is 10!

He loves riding to the beach every summer in the back of the 12 JKR 2 door. Since I just traded that for the Gladiator in March, I have to figure out the best way to get him there in the truck for as many more times as I can!

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Speaking of old friends, the Dane is 10!

He loves riding to the beach every summer in the back of the 12 JKR 2 door. Since I just traded that for the Gladiator in March, I have to figure out the best way to get him there in the truck for as many more times as I can!

Fold-up doggy ramp?

I'm no dog expert, but worked with a guy who was a hunting dog breeder and I tried to learn from him now and then - if I recall correctly, 10 is getting to be geriatric for a larger breed, isn't it? And you want to minimize impact on the hips from jumping - is that correct? (if not, set me straight, please)

 

[MikeyK]

Fold-up doggy ramp?

I'm no dog expert, but worked with a guy who was a hunting dog breeder and I tried to learn from him now and then - if I recall correctly, 10 is getting to be geriatric for a larger breed, isn't it? And you want to minimize impact on the hips from jumping - is that correct? (if not, set me straight, please)

You are correct again

Ramp and a boat load of money on high quality foods

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