The Chillout Zone (Off-Topic Thread)

SillyMangoX

A lot of the time, there is no way of knowing unless there is a very obvious scar. I've seen it happen twice while on placements with different vets that they didn't know until they opened up as the dogs were from pounds. I've heard recently though that some vets are starting to tattoo two small lines either side of where the incision is to indicate that they have been spayed. Haven't seen it yet though! Does anyone know of vets that do this? I think it was in the veterinary journal I read it!

Pumpkinseeds

Our 4 are going through an 'I'm not eating that phase' with most wet food. We usually give them tins of Bozita but they're bored with it and we've tried most of the expensive ones from Zooplus, so they've been slumming it this week with Felix as good as it looks, which only gets the jelly licked off. They munched their way through the Coshida stuff from Lidl yesterday and since it's half the price of the Felix stuff it doesn't matter if they only lick the jelly off. They'll be back on the Bozita tomorrow whether they like it or not. It's shockingly expensive to buy wet food in supermarkets, especially since it's so much lower in quality than the Bozita.

aonb

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

Our 4 are going through an 'I'm not eating that phase' with most wet food. We usually give them tins of Bozita but they're bored with it and we've tried most of the expensive ones from Zooplus, so they've been slumming it this week with Felix as good as it looks, which only gets the jelly licked off. They munched their way through the Coshida stuff from Lidl yesterday and since it's half the price of the Felix stuff it doesn't matter if they only lick the jelly off. They'll be back on the Bozita tomorrow whether they like it or not. It's shockingly expensive to buy wet food in supermarkets, especially since it's so much lower in quality than the Bozita.

I can understand that they might be bored with the same brand... but when they will eat cheap/horrible/nasty stuff, and turn their noses up at home-made or good quality it makes me nuts! Tux refuses chicken breast, but I have some cheap nasty shop bought chicken slices to try to dose ferals, and she loves that! My dads spoiled rotten and adored dog regularly turned up his nose at home cooked mince meat, pan fried liver and even steak, poor dad

baby and crumble

Our stupid house renovation is taking FOREVER and it means I have to contact the lovely woman who's fostering our new cat again to say we can't take Her yet. I feel so bad, I don't want her to thik re taking the proverbial. I'm raging, we were meant to be in before Christmas ffs!!!

aonb

baby and crumble wrote: »

Our stupid house renovation is taking FOREVER and it means I have to contact the lovely woman who's fostering our new cat again to say we can't take Her yet. I feel so bad, I don't want her to thik re taking the proverbial. I'm raging, we were meant to be in before Christmas ffs!!!

Thats so hard.
The woman if shes fostering in the first place, probably wont have any problem when she knows a good home is worth waiting for. If I were you I would pop over to her with a nice box of chocolates, tell her the renovation is not going to plan and say hi to your new cat (and maybe a nice treat for her too); the woman will understand (the cat wont give a toss!).

(shes probably glad to have the extra time with the cat - I always think fosterers are saints - I couldnt bear to hand over the fosteree )

I hope your new house gets finished soon, and you will settle in v.quickly, and get your new cat settled in soonest too

baby and crumble

aonb wrote: »

Thats so hard.
The woman if shes fostering in the first place, probably wont have any problem when she knows a good home is worth waiting for. If I were you I would pop over to her with a nice box of chocolates, tell her the renovation is not going to plan and say hi to your new cat (and maybe a nice treat for her too); the woman will understand (the cat wont give a toss!).

(shes probably glad to have the extra time with the cat - I always think fosterers are saints - I couldnt bear to hand over the fosteree )

I hope your new house gets finished soon, and you will settle in v.quickly, and get your new cat settled in soonest too

Yea, we've had to contact her loads and keep pushing the date back. She is so nice about it, she's always seemed happy to wait so she'll have a good home. The cat was already waiting for ages to find someone to take her, so I suppose it's not a big deal, I just feel awful. We already visited them, she's about 70 miles away, so we can't really go down too much. We wanted to meet her so we knew everyone was happy. I made the cat pressies for Christmas. I should probably send down some more stuff for her. And her foster Mom.

ShaShaBear

Left Opie for an hour while I ran down to my Mum's to pick up the baby. Didn't crate him because he finds it very uncomfortable with the cone and he's been fine at night. Came home to find he had chewed through 2 television wires and taken the plug off our new €200 Hoover. OH is on the warpath and wants him out

DforDisaster

Have you seen those inflatable donut collars that some people use as an alternative to an elizabethan collar after an op? I'm not sure what kind of dog you have, but I've heard they are quite good once the dog isn't a breed that has a very long neck!

They are less cumbersome than standard collars so maybe he would be able to be crated for short periods of time? If not - maybe a baby gate could be used to confine him to the room that has the least dangerous/valuable items!

ShaShaBear

DforDisaster wrote: »

Have you seen those inflatable donut collars that some people use as an alternative to an elizabethan collar after an op? I'm not sure what kind of dog you have, but I've heard they are quite good once the dog isn't a breed that has a very long neck!

They are less cumbersome than standard collars so maybe he would be able to be crated for short periods of time? If not - maybe a baby gate could be used to confine him to the room that has the least dangerous/valuable items!

Unfortunately, the doors were keeping him in the room with the least valuable items, the hoover was in a practically impossible-to-reach place even for humans, and he still managed to get it down. Regardless, I'm pretty sure just the plug needs rewiring, which means it's fine. He's only 8 months and I've been trying in vain to convince OH that he was probably just scared and has had surgery after all.
Hopefully when he gets his stitches out, OH will have changed his mind.

DforDisaster

Its always the way! I swear our guy has two pairs of mini-crampons that he keeps hidden till he is on his own - its the only way he could get to some of the stuff he has nibbled!

ShaShaBear

DforDisaster wrote: »

Its always the way! I swear our guy has two pairs of mini-crampons that he keeps hidden till he is on his own - its the only way he could get to some of the stuff he has nibbled!

I swear, when Opie is on all fours, he's roughly average border collie height. But when he stands on his hind legs, he's roughly 6ft4in :pac:

Pumpkinseeds

There's fierce competition in the living room for the scratchy lounger/post in the window. Felix usually has it but Toby's taken up residence on it and it's worse in the evenings when Jazzy and Poppy try to get in on the action.:rolleyes:

ShaShaBear

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

There's fierce competition in the living room for the scratchy lounger/post in the window. Felix usually has it but Toby's taken up residence on it and it's worse in the evenings when Jazzy and Poppy try to get in on the action.:rolleyes:

Things like this make me really want to keep cats :pac:
Opie would kill them, though.

Speaking of, got the hoover working with full suction. So OH has calmed down and decided his punishment is rescinded from going to the pound to "getting bate to within an inch of his life" (obviously he is joking) :pac:

Pumpkinseeds

ShaShaBear wrote: »

Things like this make me really want to keep cats :pac:
Opie would kill them, though.

Speaking of, got the hoover working with full suction. So OH has calmed down and decided his punishment is rescinded from going to the pound to "getting bate to within an inch of his life" (obviously he is joking) :pac:

The hoover is a demon from hell as far as our cats are concerned. We have to leave the front door open so they can 'escape' while the hoover is on.:D

ShaShaBear

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

The hoover is a demon from hell as far as our cats are concerned. We have to leave the front door open so they can 'escape' while the hoover is on.:D

I actually can't remember what our old cat thought of the hoover. I do know that no dog I've had, foster or pet, had any positive feelings for it. The least bothered was Shadow, and I guess after 10 years of not being mauled by it, he was happy enough to keep his distance if the hoover likewise obliged

He's abandoned his attempts to kill the hoover until it is dead in favour of a plant pot in the garden. Absolutely no clue where he got it.

tk123

Bailey likes to stand beside you when you're hoovering - I think he might think it's for him like the blaster!? Lucy leaves the room when it's on though lol!

Pumpkinseeds

There seems to be a bit of a power struggle going on between Felix and Toby over the past few weeks. Basically, Toby has decided he likes most of Felixs favourite spots in the living room and has decided to take them.:rolleyes: Not gonna end well.

angeldaisy

All the toys they have and they are chasing round the house playing with a piece of coal!
If only I could persuade my son that coal makes a good toy - I'd be onto a winner:rolleyes:

tk123

Took Bailey for his 6 month checkup this evening. All good with his jaw but I was right about his leg - he growled and tried to pull away when it was being examined so definetly sore and worse than he was letting on. Back on metacam and rest for another week. Thinking back I know he went chasing after a fox and got stuck in mud after running off after a squirrel within 2 weeks of him limping so wondering if that did it? I remember Lucy knocked him flying one morning too! At least he doesn't want to go for walk so he won't mind resting!

Bending the rules.... Amelia style.

She wanted to sit on the chairs beside myself and my mother while we ate a special steak dinner, but she kept being put off the chairs. She is allowed to beg but she must beg from the floor. So she got onto the windowsill behind my mother's chair and tried to beg from there, and was put on the floor. Next thing she's climbing the back of my chair to beg from there. Hey, I'm not on the chairs!

tk123

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Bending the rules.... Amelia style.

She wanted to sit on the chairs beside myself and my mother while we ate a special steak dinner, but she kept being put off the chairs. She is allowed to beg but she must beg from the floor. So she got onto the windowsill behind my mother's chair and tried to beg from there, and was put on the floor. Next thing she's climbing the back of my chair to beg from there. Hey, I'm not on the chairs!

Hehe that just reminded me of Lucy's antics this evening! I got some new food to try them with for treats and left it up on the counter...she jumped up at it and I took a few pics but the counter was all untidy from me rooting for something earlier so I put it down the other end and tried to recreate the scene to get a funny photo to send my friend.... but said 'up' by mistake and next she tried to jump up on top of the counter lol Bottles etc knocked over and a big bang :pac:

SingItOut

Just want to let anybody with dogs know, please supervise your dogs when they are playing with tennis balls or those squeaky kong tennis balls. Alli was playing with hers yesterday, she was dropping it and catching it but whatever way she caught it - it split and she got her bottom jaw stuck in the ball. I was out with her at the time so I took it off her but she still cut her jaw a bit she got a bad fright but shes ok, I bought her some hard rubber kong ones and shes happy

Pumpkinseeds

Toby sauntered in at 9.30 this morning, presumably he spent the night with whatever neighbour he visits.:rolleyes: I'm guessing it was because I tried to get a collar on him yesterday. He's about 3 and has never worn a collar before but he's getting it put on him, one way or another. Not fun trying to get a cat to do something he doesn't want to do.

ShaShaBear

Got Opie's stitches out today and finally got that bloody cone off his head. My legs are in absolute tatters, bruises and cuts all over from him bashing into me!

He was much better behaved today at the vets, not nearly as much jumping and general naughtiness as last time! And at home today he's like a different dog altogether! Clearly he's glad he can actually get into his crate without almost snapping his neck :pac:

Seeing a behaviourist over the next two weeks sometime to work on his lead-training and hopefully banish the last of the jumping on people before I get pregnant again!

tk123

Well Lucy had school today (intermediate obedience) and was really good! Came back to me for all the off lead recall and walked perfectly on her lead. Very proud I was a bit worried she'd head off to play with the other dogs for the recall bit lol!

borderlinemeath

Coco & Benson were in a right huff when I left them at the groomers. Well Coco was, she doesn't like it at all. Her mood rubs off on Benson and he mimics what she does. I was considering getting our latest setter Buddy groomed but as himself pointed out he doesn't get himself into the state that Coco & Benson do, he tends to just run like a greyhound while they're down in ditches getting tangled in brambles so a quick wash and brush and he's perfect again. Coco got so tangled in a bramble recently that she couldn't walk as it had caught in both sides of her bum hair and all himself could do in the fields was saw it in half with his keys so she could get mobile again. I had to hack it out scissors when they got home!

tk123

borderlinemeath wrote: »

Coco got so tangled in a bramble recently that she couldn't walk as it had caught in both sides of her bum hair and all himself could do in the fields was saw it in half with his keys so she could get mobile again. I had to hack it out scissors when they got home!

I have a multitool in my bag for when this happens lol

borderlinemeath

tk123 wrote: »

I have a multitool in my bag for when this happens lol

I'm lucky if he brings his phone to be contactable in an emergency when he goes out! He only brings the keys to get back in the gate!

The curse of having longer haired dog breeds!

tk123

Well I'd be sitting on the fence about washing Bailey after my hands were black(!) from petting him for an hour in the vets the other night but hearing about Coco and Benson's trip to the groomers encouraged me to do it! Bailey was good as gold, Lucy looked like I was stabbing her lol! :pac: Bailey's on lead rest so we should get a few days of him being clean but I'm sure Lucy will be wrecked by tomorrow lol!

borderlinemeath

I normally wait until it's a bit more spring like to get the dirty gits done, but I took their collars off last week to brush them down and noticed how black they were on the inside!

They're sitting here gorgeous, smelling fabulous, but yeah, unless I go to the beach and make sure we stay up in the dunes, it'll be normal service tomorrow! Coco will look for something foul smelling to roll in and Bensons blow dry will be destroyed and he'll look like a woolly mammoth again