Our Animals

[TwistedSister]

Our Hamster Jerry is an escapologist. But having escaped (I think it's usually due to my daughter forgetting to shut the cage door) he usually makes his way downstairs and comes to say hello to us in the living room. Last night he escaped again and we found him in the dustbin! (alive and well I may add).

Good thing none of your fish head stew was in there, otherwise he would have been DOOMED.

[black bart]

^

It would have thickened it up nicely though.

Only kidding, I love Jerry.

[DirtMagurt]

I get to babysit my aunt's chocolate lab and baby bunny this weekend! We watched the dog for about a week this spring and our dogs LOVED her...but I'm pretty sure my roomate's collie will want to eat the bunny... :-/

[Tigger_the_Wing]

My neighbour has just been over to collect her children's guinea-pigs which we looked after this weekend. They came in a little hutch with a chicken-wire-covered playpen as a run. Katie (a kelpie/border collie cross) was interested, but didn't attempt to get at them.

[DirtMagurt]

Hopefully I can say the same for our collie this weekend! either way, Jack the Bunny will be staying in my room where the collie rarely goes!

[pieces o'nine]

Our Hamster Jerry is an escapologist.

I had a white female finch like that: they have yet to invent the cage 'Houdini' couldn't escape from!

[black bart]

Our Hamster Jerry is an escapologist.

I had a white female finch like that: they have yet to invent the cage 'Houdini' couldn't escape from!

Next door's beautiful little Yorky Terrier keeps escaping into our garden as well...she's called Ruby. She comes over for a scamper and a cuddle and then goes back through the hedge.

[Roy Hunter]

Next door's beautiful little Yorky Terrier keeps escaping into our garden as well...she's called Ruby. She comes over for a scamper and a cuddle and then goes back through the hedge.

Terriers are diggers: they can escape from anything. As the proud (and occasionally embarrassed) owner of a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, I can state this with some authority. But yes, they are usually escaping in order to say hello and get some affection. Or food, one or the other...

[Almighty Doer of Stuff]

Sad cat situation at Ashley's house.

First, 23y.o. Scamp is probably dead. She has a thyroid problem and hasn't eaten in several days, and the last time she was seen was the day before yesterday. She's probably hidden somewhere in the piles of stuff in Ashley's basement. We'll probably find her tomorrow when I go over to help Ashley clean the house. We can take comfort in the fact that she was a happy cat until the end, at least.

Second, and more upsetting, is that Ashley has to give up two of her remaining cats, specifically Bailey and Morticia. The house needs to be fumigated due to a flea infestation on Saturday, and between that and Picasso's vet bills due to his bout with diabetes, Ashley and Uncle Bob can't afford to keep all four cats on board. Picasso and Stress are much easier to handle, and enjoy being picked up, which is why they're the ones they want to keep (obviously the want them all, but that's impractical now). Morticia is a sweet, cute, and affectionate 11y.o. cat, but she' s very shy and is good at dodging grabby hands. We think we could find a home for her fairly easily though, because she's declawed in the front and very pleasant. She's an American Shorthair, mostly black with a small patch of white between her back legs. She'd probably hide for a few weeks, but if you keep giving her love and attention she'll come out of her shell before long.

Bailey, on the other hand, is a frenzied ball of fur and fang if you try to touch her at a bad time. We highly doubt any normal person would adopt her, even though she's not always like that, sometimes being very cute and affectionate, and if you pay close attention to her vocal and body language as you pet her you can tell when she's about to fly off the handle pretty easily. She's actually been starting to mellow out lately, relatively speaking, but she's still a handful. She's of the Russian White breed.

I can't find anyone in my family who's willing and able to take either one of them.

Hence I come to you guys.

ET, I know you're just coming off three deaths in the family and trying to reduce your number of cats, but Ashley and I love Bailey and we don't want to have to bring her to the shelter, where she'll die unhappy, and you're the only person I know who knows how to and is willing to deal with difficult cats. I don't suppose you could take her in? I understand if you don't want to.

Alternately, is there anyone else willing to come to Massachusetts to take either or both cats? We could take pictures for the forumers. There's a shop just down the street with excellent, if slow, pasta, as well.

Please help us, if you can. These cats are our babies. They're the first thing Ashley and I bonded over in 2006. They really need good homes.

[TwistedSister]

I feel your pain ADoS. I'd love to help you guys out but Ma., is a bit too far to pick up two cats that would cause my demise. (Mr. TS would kill me)

Hope you find a good home for them.

[Almighty Doer of Stuff]

There has been a change of situation. Ashley is going to keep all four of her cats.

I say four, because Scamp is indeed deceased. We found her in complete rigor mortis in the room in the basement where she spent most of her time. She was in quite an odd position, but she was a cat and cats can get comfortable in the strangest positions, so we're not too worried. She was quite happy the last time she was seen alive, so we're not really upset about it. We knew it was basically just hospice care when she moved in, and Ashley did everything she could to make her feel comfortable.

Unfortunately, she probably brought the fleas in with her, and now they've infested the house, as I said. Her body was covered in them, and when I picked her up to put her in a garbage bag until her cremation tomorrow, they all jumped all over my legs. Gross. I got them all off, though. We spent all day preparing for tomorrow's fumigation. There's still a little left to do, which we'll do in the morning. Some of that will likely include picking up cat vomit, because I'm sure the cats will be eating all sorts of crap tonight. We took away their food so they don't poop in the crates tomorrow morning, and also hopefully they'll all be crying in the kitchen in the morning, where we can catch them easily. They'll get nice canned food while Ashley, Uncle Bob and I have lunch, although in my experience cats rarely eat when they're unhappy and in crates. We'll see.

Ashley's sleeping on the couch in my living room (I offered her my bed and I'd sleep on the couch, but she's used to couches so that's where she's spending the night) because a few fleas have made their way into her bedroom, but I'm having trouble sleeping, so I'm letting you all know what's going on.

Ashley has a video of Scamp on her phone. Tomorrow I'll see if I can get her to put it on YouTube. She was a funny cat. Very loud. Ashley needed no alarm while Scamp was there, because she would wake her up every morning, yelling loudly from the basement for her breakfast. She was a sweet cat, despite her foul odor and tendency to play rough. It's a good thing she was declawed and toothless.

Thank you for your concern. Things will probably turn out fine.

[Roy Hunter]

Greek stray dog takes part in the anti-austerity measures riots.

[black bart]

Greek stray dog takes part in the anti-austerity measures riots.

I name that dog Themistocles.

[Almighty Doer of Stuff]

I saw this just now, and I knew I had to share it. It's so cute it's disgusting. It's a slideshow of interspecies snuggling photos from a refuge for injured, orphaned, and abandoned animals.

[Almighty Doer of Stuff]

I'm surprised nobody was interested in that link. Huh.

As for "our" animals, Ashley's cat, Picasso, has a large lump on his side, as I said. It's gotten much bigger and it's about the size of a plum now, but it's still not bothering him. Must be nice being a masochist.

Now I'm pretty sure the lump is one of his mammary glands. Ashley can't afford biopsies and pills and stuff like that for cat cancer, but it probably isn't cancer at all. Between his allergic reaction to the fleas, and the bad acne he and his sister got from eating out of a plastic dish (I've given them a ceramic bowl now), it could be any number of things.

Money's still tight for Ashley, but if it's just a matter of cutting his !@#$%^&* out, giving him stitches, a headcone and an overnight stay, and a course of antibiotics, she MIGHT, possibly, be able to afford it. She'll ask how much that would cost on Tuesday when he goes to his next diabetes checkup.

EDIT: Ha ha, look, there's a profanity censor.