Birds of a feather stalk together
I’m betting like me, most of you also feed the birds. Pet lovers usually love animals of all kinds and help them out when they can.
Alice sent me this photo of her dog, Aimee and cat, Trouble, sharing the view of the bird diner, or it the cat’s case, bird dinner (at least that’s what he’s probably thinking!)
I go through tons of bird seed. I also make a peanut butter, lard and bird seed mixture I stuff into holes bored in a log. All together I have 5 feeding stations: two all sunflower, one a mix, a basket for year-round suet and the log.I can't stand to see the seed drop below even one hole in the huge feeders, so I always top them off. I feel badly if I see a little bird at a station with no seed available and the other perches all taken!
The Boss complains I waste seed (translation: money)feeding the squirrels, which is true, but they are hilarious to watch as they hang from toes and leap in the air from tree to feeder. I’m sure Alice’s dog and cat could vouch for the enjoyment one gets from watching creatures of all kinds visit the feeders.
Alice says, “This is Aimee, our princess doggie and Trouble, watching for birds and squirrels out the window. As you can see from the cat condo, it is a cat place. Aimee is so interested in squirrels that she actually jumped up there from the bed, across the nightstand and made about a foot and a half jump to reach the top of the chest of drawers. This is nothing for the cats. But Aimee used to be afraid of stairs and it took months to get her used to them. Now here she is on top of a 4 1/2 foot dresser. Trouble is baffled by the appearance of a dog in a cat place. Aimee did need assistance getting down.”
When Tarzan was in the wild, before he let us get near, I’d often see him crouched under a bush near the bird feeders, just WAITING for one to make a mistake. Now he has to be content to watch them from inside his cat fence. Poor baby, he has it so rough. LOL.
The other photo is of my friend Marie’s new dog, Roxy. She lost her only dog a few years ago, a little Westie, and it took her and her boss awhile until they were ready for a new arrival. Isn’t he the cutest? She adopted her from a Humane Society in Georgia. The wonders of Petfinder! Marie says that Roxy had puppies at one time and now she seems to hang on to a maternal instinct by carrying around little stuffed toys, just like Peanut carries his balls around. His toy balls, in case you thought of something else!
Off topic: a coworker mentioned her dog has been throwing up his food for a few weeks. She said he acts normal in all other respects, and was wondering what could be going on. She thought maybe she needed to change food, but I thought he might have eaten something he shouldn’t have. I suggested giving chicken and rice for awhile to settle his stomach. She said she’ll take him to the vet if it doesn’t stop, though there is no blood or anything else unusual about it. Any thoughts?
posted by Sandy at 2/01/2007 10:35:00 AM
Pet People
19 Comments:
Whos says cats rule? That is too cute. I think Alice might need pet stairs for Aimee.
Sandy, as for the vomiting... Oscar has a sensitive tummy too. He acts just fine, then out of the blue will vomit. My vet said to give him Tagament Acid Reducer, one pill, once a day. (Has to be regular strength) Dogs can also have Pepto Bismal (regular strength) for upset tummies and diapoo. This works great for him and he doesn't vomit nearly as often.
My Zander is always finding something to eat he shouldn't. Therefore he will vomit sometimes too, we have found peptobismal works for him. Unfortunately, he isn't super fond of the taste but he takes it in the end. I would just suggest calling your vet first to find out the appropriate dosage for his weight. I always do that first, especially since mine are a little under 10 pounds.
Our vet recommended Pepcid AC for Charlie. His stomache will make all sorts of funny noises when his tummy is upset. I buy the generic store brand and give him one tiny pill. Most of the time I have to put it down his throat because when his tummy is gurgling, he doesn't want to eat anything. I works fast and he is a happy doggie again.
Alice, I love that both Aimee and Trouble are watching the birds! How funny that Trouble noticed Aimee invading her once private space.
I used to love feeding the birds. But then I realized I was making it way too easy for my excellant hunter "MoJo-JoJo" to catch and kill birdies. It seemed everyday I was finding a dead bird in my garage or on my porch so I stopped feeding them. I know that is what cats do but it was just upsetting to me. I do very much miss watching the birds and feeding them. When we lived in lower Alabama we had huge flocks of Cedar Waxwings come thru ( our pre-cat days) and I would sit for hours with my binoculars and watch them-absolute beauties. Any ideas on how I could feed the birds without my kitties having a free feast? I don't have any trees tall enough to put a feeder into. I guess I could get one of those poles you put in the ground to attach a feeder to.I will have to do some checking.
My neighbor adopted a 4 month old puppy from a shelter in KY to be a companion for their chocolate lab. It made my heart smile today as I saw that fluffy little puppy running around my neighbors fenced back yard-playing, happily unaware of how it had been spared.
Sandy could your friends dog have eaten something non-edible to make it sick? My Cody ate a squeaky toy once and we didn't know what was making him sick until about a week later when he pooped it out. We were young dumb doggie parents. I guess we should have taken him to the vet but we just thought it was food that didn't agree with him.
On a different note, I was out showing houses to a young couple today and it was very cold. Many times people put their dogs outside while buyers come to look at their homes. I wish I had of had a camera with me today. A lady had her little poodle and her cat out on the deck. They both had on little pink sweaters, scarves and
liitle pink tobogans with poms on the top and straps under their chins to hold them on. I could see the poodle wearing it but not the cat! They both looked SO adorable and we had more fun looking at the pets than we did the house. I couldn't believe the cat just sat out there wearing it. I have had cats my entire life and I have never had one that would tolerate my dressing it. Ha!
Shannon, I LOVE cedar waxwings! I've seen them only once, a bunch of them in a little tree in the front yard. I have a bird book, and it said they travel in groups like that. They are very dashing looking.
As to keeping cats from feeders. I really don't know as my cats are in a fenced yard and the feeders are outside of it.
On a side note--I thought you were in real estate. Adrienne might be moving here from Virginia (she found Pet People when she was on the Web site checking out Clarksville) She asked me about renting a house that would be pet-friendly, as, like most of us, has several. So maybe if she does move here, you can give her some advice on that!
A cat actually wearing clothes and not freaking out? I'd love to see that! Dragon boy will have a fit! He thought dressed up dogs were bad? LOL.
Okay, I am totally cracking up at the visual picture of a cat with a little pink tobogan with poms on the top and straps under the chin to hold it on!!!! I keep seeing it on the head of Dragon's King Feline Evil Monster Ungrateful Devil Cat, sitting on the top of the Kitty Palace!!!! LOL
Sure wish you'd had a camera to get that cat and dog in a photo for us,ow cute it sounds!
When our daughter was little she used to dress our cat Tiger up in her doll clothes and push him around in the doll baby buggy and he loved it! he would hop up in it and sometimes fall asleep in it. he even got in in on his own sometimes. He never even minded when she dressed him up in the doll clothes, will have to search through old photows to see if we have any of him dressed up.
I bet Aimee and Trouble are best buddies. My niece recently sent me a great picture of Lexi the Boxer snuggling up to Emmy the cat! What a sight that was to my eyes!
Shannon,
I have heard if you put a tiny bell on a cat’s collar, that a cat will have a harder time sneaking up on a bird. I don’t know if your cat wears a collar or not. My girls do not wear collars but they stay inside and never go outside. I put a collar on my Skeeter until I read an article about cats accidentally hanging themselves to death while inside a house alone. I do not recall the story but since my boy was an indoor only baby, it scared me into taking his collar off never to be worn by him again. Has anyone else heard of such a hanging incident?
I also read recently about cats getting into plastic bags (ya know, the Wal-Mart type) and suffocating! During Christmas, I had those type bags lying out all over the floor while gift wrapping. The girl’s insisted on helping mommy wrap gifts! After running them away from all the fun things like the scissors, tape, bows and pens, they found solitude in the empty plastic bags. Sheba the brave queen got into a bag first. After realizing all was safe, my cautious baby Cheetah being a ‘monkey see monkey do’ kind of girl, crawled into one. I was getting caught up in the moment with Christmas music playing and my wrapping when I realized the bag had somehow made its way out the doorway. I went to investigate and found Cheetah with her body stuck through the handle of the bag! I startled my skittish baby and she took off like a bat out of haydees! She ran down the stairs and the sound of the bag flapping in air was more then she could take. Hubby was nearby so he and I took off after her. Mommy was talking to her the entire time trying to reassure her that it was okay. I am convinced that Cheetah thought it was a big white cat chasing after her! We chased her all over the house and she finally ran under a treadmill and cornered herself. Hubby was trying to get her out but it took mommy’s hands around her nap to pull her to freedom. I had a hard time keeping her controlled long enough to get the bag from around her frightened body. Anyone that has a timid cat knows how traumatic that was for my baby. I don’t ever have to worry about her suffocating in a bag because she will not go near them now! She runs from me each morning when I take the plastic cover off of the newspaper! Poor baby…
Back on the birds. The cedar waxwings are indeed beautiful birds. I am lucky enough to have them stop in our yard on their migration route during the spring and fall times. I have documented 54 different types of birds in our yard over the past 5 years! My fondest moment was when I saw a male and female Bob White Quail with 3 baby chicks following behind them near our corn pile for the deer! My second fond moment was when I saw 3 of the huge pileated Woodpeckers on a tree at the same time! The birds bring me just about as much joy as my girls do. Okay, I said just about as much joy…
Yes, I've heard of cats hanging themselves with collars. You have to buy one specially designed for cats, which will snap apart if this happens. When I had my first cat Yogi (and I will have to tell you his story this weekend) I got one for him. Problem was, he must have got it hung up, it snapped open like it was supposed to and then I never saw it again! But if your cats are indoors and this happens, you'll find the collar easily.
I never heard of a cat suffocating in a plastic bag like the store bags, but maybe a bigger garabe bag? My sister's cats like to go in and out the small plastic bags you get at stores, and they don't seem big enough to trap. But to be safe, I guess you could use paper!
I too used to keep a record of the birds I saw. My favorite bird to see, which is one that doesn't come to feeders, is the huge pilated woodpecker. They are HUGE.
Sandy,
When will the “Me and My Pet” slide show start in the Leaf-Chronicle? I am dying to see some pictures of adorable pets!
And where exactly are the pictures going when they are sent to PetsSpeak@aol.com??? Is that your address? Remember I am new here and don’t know much about all of this…
I use those snap type collars for my cats. They do work. They will sometimes pull them off themselves with their paws, but my cats are indoor so I do find the collars, usually under the bed. Even thought they are indoors, I always keep a collar with tag on my cats, because anything can happen. They might get startled and zip out the open door, or the door to the kennel might come open on the way to the vet......
My girls don't wear collars either. I've always worried that if they ever got out they wouldn't have any ID but my worry they will get hurt is worse. I tried collars with our Tiger and Samantha but they ahted them and wouldn't wer them. I got ones with the safety elastic and they just pulled them off and I worried they might still be able to snag them on something and choke. I am such a fraidy cat.
I never tried collars with any of the others.
If you guys remember I wrote a thing before about how my Brittany loves to eat plastic so we ahve to keep all bags away from where she can get to them. Guess if she ever got caught in one she would eat her way out. The funny thing is even though she likes to eat it she and the other two as well are scared sh--tless of the sound of a plastic bag being rattled. I've rattled them at them to get them to stop bad behavior before and it works like a charm just not long enough.
Hey guys, what are Waxwings? We have so many varieties of birds to watch here but don't know what most of them are outside of the Cardinals, Bluejays, woodpeckers, bluebirds and yellow finches.
Skeeter, PetsSpeak is my personal email I use just for the blog. When you send pictures to me, that is strictly for me to post on the blog when I can. The slide show Online at the paper will be starting soon, but I don't deal with that, so send your photos to that if you want them online. Also, I believe they will be using some of those photos in the newspaper as well, when we launch the redesigned paper in the middle of this month, so keep an eye out. They will also be putting in the paper the best of the blogs, so I think once a week Pet People will be featured!
Things still in the works, so bear with us! If you send photos for the paper send to: community@theleafchronicle.com. Keep phots large, but not larger than 1MB. Send as an attachment, not embedded in an email-that won't work. Put in the subjed field "Me and my pet photo." In your email, give name of pet/people and your name and contact number.
Cedar waxwing. Do an internet picture search, like on google to see a photo of one!
Forgot to ask. Does anyone have their pet microchipped? Scooter is, because I won one in a photo contest. It was a snap to insert (the vet has to do it). Every shelter and vet scan pets for these if they are lost. I should get one for all my pets. The Boss wanted to know why I put it in Scooter, as he's the one he wouldn't want back! LOL.
Shame, shame on the boss although we know he doesn't really mean it.
I have been thinking about getting the chips for my girls, does it make them sore or itch or want to bother the site in any way?
Scooter didn't even flinch when they put the chip in. It's very tiny and they insert it with a needle. Talk to your vet about it next time you go. I've never heard of any pet having a reaction, but I guess it's possible. If so, they could probably take it out, but I'm not sure about that. I'll have to ask next time I go to my vet.
Thanks Sandy, will do!
With the pet throwing up,he could possible be eating to much or he could not be digesting his food.Most gro store pet foods ,and some premium pet foods contain,corn ,wheat and soy and by products, Check your first 10 ingredients,food allergies is cause lot up set stomachs and pet skin itching.A good food that has none those bad items is Blue Buffalo which can be got at PetSmart.
Sharon
Director Shure Pets
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