PET'S CORNER

[Wendyf]

A peaceful moment in the polytunnel for Alfie yesterday.

[Cathy]

I used to have a cat that got frightened every time I used a hand held electric cake mixer. The cat i have now who is 7yrs old has only just got her courage together to be only one room away while i am vacuuming. Before now she always ran into the spare bedroom and tucked herself into the farthest corner, and wouldn't come out until I went in and told her I had finished vacuuming. lol

[Marilyn]

Alfie looks like a 'honey' of a dog...and he looks in quite good shape for his age.
I must take a photo of Abby ( the world's greatest hair dropper)...caught her having fun on the back lawn today torturing a large caterpillar. She kept sucking it into her mouth, then laying it gently on the lawn...repeating the aforementioned process many times with me screeching " Abby...that is disgusting!" until I could not bear to look due to green slimy stuff running out the side of her mouth.
( for heaven's sake...YUK!)

My dear old marmalade cat would not shift for the vac, Cathy. He was so placid, I would just pull him gently by one leg...vac where he had been...gently pull him back...like a rag doll he was. I still miss Basil. He was the BEST.
Got him when son was a toddler and he would sit in boxes, drawers, under quilts, in cupboards...and was happy being carried over son's shoulder, cuddled upside down..whatever! Such a happy boy and he never bothered about anything.

[Cathy]

My Blue's breeder warned me that he had inherited a habit of his mothers, which was to wrap himself around the top of my head when we slept together. As a kitten he would wrap himself around my neck when i picked him up. Another cat (Snuffy) would wake me up by trying to lick my eyes 'open', very strange. The cat I have now (Lady) tries to get me up in the mornings by sitting at my bedroom door and gently calls to me, if i don't respond her calls get louder and more irritated, then she makes the sound of Hmmph and walks away in disgust. Haha

[Marilyn]

My son's cat, Daisy, used to stomp around in ( what sounded like) lead boots if I did not feed her on time.
Right little madam, that one!
Between her hammering about, and Sam ( the dog) trying to round me up as if I was a sheep that needed to be penned, mealtimes were pretty well on time.
Because the dog scoffed hers and the cat would irritatingly take her time, the dog would patiently wait for the cat to finish. Then the cat would stretch...dog thought she had finished but NO...cat could fit a bit more in.( oh..the agony)
So the dog would wait, dejected, knowing there would be nothing left.
Cat would slowly leave the bowl, exposing ONE last remaining Whiskette ( cat biscuit).
JOY! Dog's faith in friendship restored! Biscuit gratefully scoffed. Dinner over. Both headed for nap.

[Wendyf]

Our big, fluffy Feebie wears lead boots too Maz. Every night there is a thud, thud, thud, thud across the wood floor of our bedroom then there's a moments silence....and wham! She has landed on top of you, with all four lead feet, from what feels like a great height. She then takes up her position on my feet till morning, when we are woken by the sound of claws being sharpened on what was once a very nice wicker linen basket.

[Tizer]

Something for the dog owners...Radio4's `More or Less' team has looked into the calculation used to relate a dog's age to human age. They've devised a new calculator and call it the `dogulator'. You can use it on this page:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22479412

[Stanley]

Interesting that Jack Russells aren't in the list of breeds, not common in America.
Lovely pic of Alfie enjoying being near Wendy and the shelter of the poly tunnel.
I love the idiosyncrasies that pets develop when you have had them from a very young age. Eigg slept next to my head for almost 19 years. Black Jack was 5 months old when I got him and has never bonded like that, he is much more demanding and independent! Like living with Cromwell. Terriers are like cats in that they can have all the grace of a falling brick when thy jump of a bed onto a boarded floor!

[Cathy]

Because we are having cooler weather my cat is coming to me for more cuddles, all very normal (it's all about the cats comfort after all), she snuggles up to me and purrs herself to sleep then she snores. I find it so funny cause I've don't think I've ever had a cat that snores before. Lol

She is 7yrs (human yrs) and 51yrs in cat years. For a dog that would be 46yrs for a medium/small dog or 57yrs for a large dog. i wonder why it's different??

[Tardis]

Small update about the pet poisoning from Pendle Environmental Health:

As in all dog poisoning situations the matter is dealt with by the Police and Cllr. Whipp has informed them.

I would suggest that if an update is required, the local Police are contacted.

I have pointed out that it was the police who said to contact Pendle

[Marilyn]

Going back a few posts to the sound of an animal's tread...when our dog was alive the house we lived in was huge. We had hard floors and carpet only in the bedrooms. When our dog started to get sick with Diabetes and lose her sight, she would come to our bedroom in the night wanting to be let out for a wee ( curse of diabetes). In the dead of night I would hear 'tick, tick, tick' as her claws clicked on the hard floor...then she would hit the carpet and all would go quiet until I heard the 'bang bang bang' of her tail as she completely bypassed hubby and came to my side of the bed. Then the wet nose would burrow under the quilt until it found warm skin. No other sound was ever made. She knew 'Mum' would be there to help her.
I often hear that sound in my dreams now, and think ' here she comes!'

I remember the night she was so sick that she crawled the whole way on her belly a few inches at a time. That night she didn't bother coming the long way round the bed, but woke hubby instead.

Sad isn't it? They are so special, and time doesn't make us miss them any the less.

[Moh]

That's true Maz, it is 5 years last Sunday since we lost Sam, our Shih Tzu, and we both still miss him like mad. Every time we seea Shih Tzu we both go ah!! and sometimes I cry (like I am doing typing this!!).

[Stanley]

Not surprising they affect us so much. Apart form our mothers, probably the only source of unconditional love we will ever encounter. Probably a good job that Black Jack is so independent, I might not be affected so much when he dies..... (If I last that long!)

[Cathy]

I've always cried buckets when one of my cats has died, but i remember when my Blue died I let out a noise that sounded like a primal scream, very unexpected and I've never done it since. Animals do work their way to deep inside of us.

[Marilyn]

Febby and I are sat at each end of a three seat chesterfield at present, with a large, black, sleeping dog between us who is taking up more than her allocated part of the bargain!
She has her head on his lap, whilst I have the business end.
Just who will get up shortly to make coffee is the question...
( thank heavens this dog is not prone to wind)

[Stanley]

I think bulldogs are the worst farters.... I learned not to feed Eigg with dried meat. It had a very unfortunate effect on her bowels and the smell could drop you at ten paces!

[Tardis]

The big scoop:

The UK’s largest dog welfare charity Dogs Trust has teamed up with Keep Britain Tidy to launch the first-ever The Big Scoop on June 14th, when all around the UK there will be events and activities promoting poop scooping

http://www.thebigscoop.org.uk/home/632

[Stanley]

Wendy, how's our mate Alfie doing?



(Big Kev's pic of Jack)

[Wendyf]

He's OK thank you Stanley & Jack. Col has been doing quiet jobs like painting and laying floor tiles so Alfie hasn't felt the need to run away again. He sleeps a lot and comes out for a wander round round now and then.

[Stanley]

Good! Long may it continue.

[hartley353]

On a recent trip to the lakes my Border Terrier Lucy cut one of her front pads. The cut bled profusely at first but stopped within minutes, we used the first aid kit to apply a bandage to keep it clean. With all my pets I have used a simple way of deciding wether to enrich the vet. This is the premise if this had happened to me would I Seek medical attention. As yet we have not attended the vets, but have had a quick look on the Net to see what others had done. It seems that split pads can stay split if the cut is deep enough. Most people agree that the wounds are not suitable for stitching, and several have said that superglue is the answer.As is always the case I now have an imformation overload to glue, or not glue. Lucy seems unaffected by the wound, but has become bored of the bandage and wants to remove it when no one is watching. Friday coming we are taking the daughters elderly Yorkie to the vet for tooth extractions, do I seek free advice for lucy, when I know that his response will be fetch her in.for which they will be a £25 fee for the advice.

[Wendyf]

I would think you might be in danger of trapping infection in the wound.

[Tardis]

Soaking the dog's foot in a salt water bath will help both to discourage infection and harden the pad again.

[hartley353]

I would think you might be in danger of trapping infection in the wound.

Thankyou Wendy, that is also one of my concerns. One guy who has racing sled dogs says" you only glue the outer top surface, then glue a patch of moleskin material over the top, this leaves the sides open to the air and allows any infection to leak from the sides." My common sense screams dont do it.

[hartley353]

Soaking the dog's foot in a salt water bath will help both to discourage infection and harden the pad again.

Thanks Tardis, we are already on this path I am a firm believer of the benefits of saltwater made from the tap.