The Chillout Zone (Off-Topic Thread)

Pumpkinseeds

Toby is settling in really well. I've never known a cat to love catnip they way he does. Felix is either ignoring him and going out the front door when Toby comes in the back door or doing the howly sideways crab walk towards him. I'll settle for going out the other door at this point. Jazzy seems to have accepted him and had a good sniff of his bottom tonight.

Toby has lots of scratches and scrapes on him still but I think all the scrapping with other cats will stop once he's staying in more often, which is what he seems to want to do now, it's only about 3 weeks since he was neutered. He's got a lovely temperment and loves to be petted. He gives a loud meow or a gentle nip if I pet him in an area he doesn't like. I managed to scan his microchip into the catflap tonight. I got sneaky and set the scan function after putting some roast chicken right in front of the flap

Now if only black beastie would show up and let me trap him I'd be happy

MusicalMelody

I got back from New York on Sunday... Does anything actually beat being reunited with your dog after a holiday? The reaction is so heartwarming

SillyMangoX

Having some amazing kitten cuddles with dude this morning, in the last 2 weeks he's really maturing, he doesn't go into bitey play mode as often as before, he now loves to just sit on me and be rubbed it's funny though, it's like he knows I'm his mammy, I'm the only one in the house who he sits on! If My mam is sitting in my usual chair, he jumps up on her and meows loudly in her face before running away as if to say 'hey you're not the right person!!!' He's just such a love bug towards me, as I'm typing this he's kneading on my arm days like these make me so glad that I rescued him, to think he could be a pile of ashes in a crematorium is so heartbreaking!

muddypaws

went to a cash and carry kind of place yesterday and got 1kg of frozen whole sardines for a couple of euro. Gave them to the dogs this morning, some of them devoured them instantly, one dropped it and rolled on it, and 3 wouldn't even entertain them. Will see how they're tummies take to it, as the last time they had fish a few of them were ill, but if okay this time, will definitely get some more.

toadfly

Oh! Did you get those in Ballina?

honerbright

Got up this morning and first thing I did was peak out the spare room window which faces out over the yard for my visitor, and sure enough she was sitting at the back of the yard waiting for breakfast. Tapped on the window to let her know I knew she was there and went downstairs to feed her. Soon as I opened the curtains to the dining room (also overlooking the yard) and moved into the kitchen to gather her bits she came racing over the back door! She never comes over to the house during the day, has never even come so close to the house and has never come running at me for food before. Unfortunately Poppy was super excited that this cat had 'come to see her' went racing over to the door to meet her and frightened her off :rolleyes:
Went over to her usual spot to see if she was hiding under the bushes and no sign, so I moved away to see if I could spot her elsewhere and she started meowing to me and turned up in the usual spot, then happily ate her breakfast in the middle of the yard (3 meters closer to the house than we started at )

Needless to say I'm utterly delighted with the progress, really hope it keeps up... if it does we might even have some contact in a few weeks

muddypaws

TillyGirl wrote: »

Oh! Did you get those in Ballina?

No sorry, The Food Centre (Abbey Foods) in Clevereagh Retail park in Sligo.

borderlinemeath

TillyGirl wrote: »

Oh! Did you get those in Ballina?

Did you see on Dogsfirsts facebook page there's a Galway run next week

Cocolola

It's so typical, I'm trying to start Ollie on raw and the other week I saw Dogsfirst were doing a run to Limerick (where I'm from) and commented on the FB page that pity I'm not in Limerick any more and asked do they do runs near Galway. They replied that unfortunately there's not much business that way so no but I could get gRÁW delivered so I ordered a box of that. Two days later I see they're going to Galway

Ah I'm probably not ready for preparing my own meals yet so I am happy with the gRÁW. And so is Ollie, he had a great root around the box when it arrived and I gave him a teaspoon of it yesterday which was very well received! Just have to be patient now switching him over gradually.

toadfly

borderlinemeath wrote: »

Did you see on Dogsfirsts facebook page there's a Galway run next week

Ya I seen that but min order is now €30 and my freezer would barely take the €20 worth. I need a small freezer for Lexi. I don't know what to order either! Is there much meat on the box of backs?

bluecherry74

I got the chicken backs last time and they're very meaty, much meatier than a carcass. They do take up a fair bit of space though. The salmon would take up less as it's minced into blocks. To give you an idea - I have an American style fridge freezer a bit like this one (the freezer is the smaller half on the left but it's deeper than a standard freezer):

http://www.did.ie/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/w/s/wsc5541n-a.jpg

Last time I got 20kg of salmon and it took up one and a half of the top sections. 20kg of backs took up the three lower sections.

The salmon is fantastic, but a bit of a dose to break up. It comes in a big block and is scored part of the way through. You have to let it defrost a bit, lash it off the kitchen floor a few times and then hack into it with a cleaver. Then go for a very long shower. It is worth it though.

tk123

I have a raw dilemma too!! I still have a few weeks supply and the Dublin delivery is on Tues.. Now if I don't order I'm going to run out when the pup arrives and have no food for either of them..If I order I may not have room! GAH! I switched to duck necks from the chicken backs - much easier to deal with imo. And no stabby bones like the backs - had one go into my finger before and very sore!

bluecherry74

Yeah, I think I'm going to get duck this time too. I'll probably get a bag of necks and a bag of wings. I barely have the freezer space at the moment, but Cork deliveries are a bit scarce so I don't want to miss out.

I know it's more expensive, but could you order a box of gRAW as a stopgap?

toadfly

I just went to Harvey Norman small chest freezer is 189 or a four drawer one is 199 and that's whirlpool. Don't know the other brand. So could I feed backs like I do legs now as the main meat? I then add liver and fish to the legs

tk123

bluecherry74 wrote: »

I know it's more expensive, but could you order a box of gRAW as a stopgap?

I think I may end up doing that. I was planning on mincing the pup's food anyways to make it easier on her tummy so will have to splash out this time I think for convienence or drive over to the show centre if he's there which is only a 15 min drive anyways.

Tilly if you're getting a freezer I'd advise to go bigger than an undercounter one - that's what I have atm and one box of backs/necks fills it and I'd have to put some in the house freezer!

toadfly

I don't really have room though TK. I will still have a drawer free in our own one

borderlinemeath

If you guys have a garden shed I'd get a chest freezer and put one out there. The small boxy ones take up very little room and there's always ones for sale on adverts/donedeal. Best one off purchase I ever made, takes the hassle out of thinking "where the hell will I put all this?":D

I'm on the duck necks at the minute, my guys love them. I got the carcass too but there was too much fat for Coco. I'm going to get more necks, some chicken backs and a block of salmon - my guys love the salmon - it is fecky to split into smaller blocks but brilliant when it's done.

Cocolola

TK what size is your freezer? We're renting and the fridge/freezer is quite small so I'm keeping an eye out for second hand freezers just for raw feeding but not too sure what size we'd need. We have three drawers and the box of 24 gRÁW chubbs (the 500g ones) takes up an entire one with about 6 needing to squeeze into another drawer. I'm assuming once the chubbs are gone that there wouldn't be anywhere near enough space for a box of meat?

tk123

Cocolola wrote: »

TK what size is your freezer? We're renting and the fridge/freezer is quite small so I'm keeping an eye out for second hand freezers just for raw feeding but not too sure what size we'd need. We have three drawers and the box of 24 gRÁW chubbs (the 500g ones) takes up an entire one with about 6 needing to squeeze into another drawer. I'm assuming once the chubbs are gone that there wouldn't be anywhere near enough space for a box of meat?

Ours is a Beko one 45cm wide - the drawers are smaller than the ones in our normal fridge/freezer though and the bottom one is quite small.

toadfly

Any idea of capacity TK? The ones I was looking at today were 89L Whirlpool with drawers €199 and a 145L Hisense chest one for €209.

tk123

TillyGirl wrote: »

Any idea of capacity TK? The ones I was looking at today were 89L Whirlpool with drawers €199 and a 145L Hisense chest one for €209.

It's only 66L I need to buy a shed and get a giant freezer
http://www.powercity.ie/?par=40-29-UF483W&pages=1&prod=UF483W&brands=BEKO&image=

SillyMangoX

Just saw on facebook 3 maltese pups were stolen in Clare. When will all this dognapping end

Pumpkinseeds

I don't think the dog stealing will end, unfortunately. Spancil Hill fair is on this weekend isn't it? Might not be any harm for anyone whose pets have been stolen to pay a visit. I'm not pointing the finger at any section of society, then again I don't think I need to.

borderlinemeath

Dear sweet jebus, this rain!!

Luckily I went to the beach at 8.30 this morning and got most of the big dogs walks/run/swim (all in one!) done. They're all conked out. Still have some smallies that need to get a walk though but it's flash flooding outside at the minute:(

Coco cut her paw on a shell this morning, it's not too bad, it's between the pads rather than on the bottom of a pad. It bled a little but then she ran back into the sea (best thing for it!) and I cleaned it again when we came home. I've caught her trying to lick it a couple of times but it's not easy for her to get her tongue at so fingers crossed it'll be fine.

toadfly

Had nine dogs here today! Two yorkies, a yorkie/jrt cross, a staffie, a shihtzu, three Maltese and a springer spaniel! They had great fun all running around. Pity the weather wasn't better though.

Layinghen

4 flies tracked, killed and eaten by the JRT this morning. Think she is going for a new record today.

mymo

One small loaf and a large pack of chilli crisps tracked, hunted and consumed this morning, all within 5 mins of returning with shopping, no shopping is safe!
Getting annoying now, can't put shopping down for a second!

muddypaws

mymo wrote: »

One small loaf and a large pack of chilli crisps tracked, hunted and consumed this morning, all within 5 mins of returning with shopping, no shopping is safe!
Getting annoying now, can't put shopping down for a second!

Welcome to my world, if its not put in the press, fridge or freezer immediately, then its gone. Sometimes Diesel will take it outside and just lie with it, guarding it from the other dogs, but usually it'll be someone else and it will be gone.

mymo

muddypaws wrote: »

Welcome to my world, if its not put in the press, fridge or freezer immediately, then its gone. Sometimes Diesel will take it outside and just lie with it, guarding it from the other dogs, but usually it'll be someone else and it will be gone.

You'd think they were starved!
My two didn't even finish their breakfast this morning and an hour or so later they did that.
There's still a few crisps in the grass outside, they only ate a few.

looking_around

I lock the dogs away when I'm dealing with shopping. Even when I get them to all sit calmly, they're still often IN the way >.<.

Sometime, I just give them something that'll take awhile to chew..keep the busy will I can tidy up :P
____

Got two ferrets (3 years & 2) recently ..OMG, they are soooo adorable ..They weren't planned >.<. And I do have too many pets :pac: But wow ferrets are something else. They are wonderful entertaining animals.