Pets.

[Mimi]

Awwwww, that's a great adoption story. Too bad animals don't understand words. Pet parents would forever go on about how they came into their life.

P.S. Looks like my cat, Butters.

[JennyB]

Visiting our daughter and her fiancé, they have a couple of cats. Snickers is a Siberian and Brownie is a kitten they are fostering for a local shelter here in Hoover. I think they may end up keeping Brownie, he’s a good company for Snickers.

Quick update...Brownie who was being fostered by our daughter & her fiancé had to go back to the Humane Society shelter a week ago to be neutered and then put up for adoption. Lots of tears were shed and late yesterday evening they were able to locate him at an adoption event at a local pet store. They said the little guy acted very excited and vocal about seeing them, he obviously remembered them, so they decided to adopt him. Happy to to report Brownie now has a new forever home.

Yay! I love this.

[WestwayKid]

Visiting our daughter and her fiancé, they have a couple of cats. Snickers is a Siberian and Brownie is a kitten they are fostering for a local shelter here in Hoover. I think they may end up keeping Brownie, he’s a good company for Snickers.

Quick update...Brownie who was being fostered by our daughter & her fiancé had to go back to the Humane Society shelter a week ago to be neutered and then put up for adoption. Lots of tears were shed and late yesterday evening they were able to locate him at an adoption event at a local pet store. They said the little guy acted very excited and vocal about seeing them, he obviously remembered them, so they decided to adopt him. Happy to to report Brownie now has a new forever home.

Yay! I love this.

Me too.

[Dr. Medulla]

Visiting our daughter and her fiancé, they have a couple of cats. Snickers is a Siberian and Brownie is a kitten they are fostering for a local shelter here in Hoover. I think they may end up keeping Brownie, he’s a good company for Snickers.

Quick update...Brownie who was being fostered by our daughter & her fiancé had to go back to the Humane Society shelter a week ago to be neutered and then put up for adoption. Lots of tears were shed and late yesterday evening they were able to locate him at an adoption event at a local pet store. They said the little guy acted very excited and vocal about seeing them, he obviously remembered them, so they decided to adopt him. Happy to to report Brownie now has a new forever home.

Life is good.

[Flex]

Fairly suboptimal development occured yesterday. Our dog, Lilly, bit the Little Duder, James, on the face. Fortunately, the bites are all quite superficial and missed anything like his eyes. He's on antibiotics in case of infection but otherwise the wounds are already healing quite nicely. He's a touch cranky today but that could be because I'm parenting solo (15th totally solo day out of the last 30, but who's counting right?) and with my batteries so drained right now my meal preparation has basically turned into "here's bread and a banana."

Really indescribably upset about what this means for our dog tho. We knew it was going to be tough: she's geriatric now, has at least mild dementia, and while this is the first time (afaik) that she's ever bitten someone she's definitely a reactive dog at times and has had a few scraps over the years with other dogs (she was quite viciously attacked twice as a young pup so that made her very wary around other dogs). Most of the time she's as sweet as can be, but with her physical/mental decline, some behavioral weirdness triggered by the pandemic, and a bit of her underlying nature made her a tough case to have a baby or toddler around.

But, you know, we had to try to make it work. Increased her meds to try to calm her down, tried to have James and Lilly interact in extremely controlled ways only, etc. That didn't work, obviously. Now that she's drawn blood, there's no way we can in good conscience keep her in the home. We're all lucky it was a relatively minor injury this time, next time may be worse and there's no way to be 100% confident there won't be a next time. Even if we implemented an even more rigours setup of gating and separation, it's impossible to be 100% vigilant 100% of the time. In this case, the dog was under a table when I thought she was in another room and James went over and probably cornered her and then pulled her hair or something and there you have it.

She's also a people dog - that's been part of the problem - I had old dogs whom would be fine going into another part of the house to not be bothered, Lilly can't stand being away from our side for almost any amount of time. It's made any attemptntomdo crating, sectioning off parts of the house, etc. functionally impossible for a day-in, day-out solution.

We're going to try to reach the rescue my wife (years before she met me) got the dog from since they asked to be contacted of we ever had to give her up, but they specialize in puppies so I suspect they won't take her back. In an ideal world, we'd find a friend or family member who would take her in so we could still be connected to her somewhat, but I think the chances of that happening are vanishingly small. So, probably going to have to research true no kill shelter/rescue type operations, and just pray that some of them are good at placing "trouble" dogs with appropriate homes. I think with an appropriate, calm environment she could still live a few more really good years and be a wonderful companion to the right person/people. It tears me up inside that we apparently can't give her that.

And of course it's hard not to worry she won't find the right situation. The thought of leaving our dog to be abandoned and forgotten in the last years of her life is so devastatingly sad that it's felt like my heart is being continually stabbed with a knife for the last 24 hours.

BUT, however painful all that is, I know it's only a fraction of how I'd feel if she ever did something worse to James, especially now that we know she's willing and able.

I dunno, if anyone has any knowledge or advice on rehoming a pet, let me know.

[Dr. Medulla]

Oh man, what a devastating decision/course of action. I feel for you, man. I can't offer any advice about re-homing, but is it feasible/ethical for Lilly to wear a muzzle in the house? Given that she doesn't have that many years left, I'm grasping at a way that she can still be with her family at the end.

[Flex]

Oh man, what a devastating decision/course of action. I feel for you, man. I can't offer any advice about re-homing, but is it feasible/ethical for Lilly to wear a muzzle in the house? Given that she doesn't have that many years left, I'm grasping at a way that she can still be with her family at the end.

I actually bought a muzzle yesterday to at least get through the next few days until we figure out a next step. I must be really dumb but I can't seem to get it to stay on her. It's probably just from being mentally strung out right now. I think whether that could be a real long term solution would have to depend on the comfort level of both me and the missus (and probably our parents as well, all of whom do some caregiving of James from time to time) and getting some kind of professional consult from a behavioral specialist. I've thought about it, muzzle designs for me more long term use still let the dog drink water and breathe normally and so forth, so maybe.

[Dr. Medulla]

Oh man, what a devastating decision/course of action. I feel for you, man. I can't offer any advice about re-homing, but is it feasible/ethical for Lilly to wear a muzzle in the house? Given that she doesn't have that many years left, I'm grasping at a way that she can still be with her family at the end.

I actually bought a muzzle yesterday to at least get through the next few days until we figure out a next step. I must be really dumb but I can't seem to get it to stay on her. It's probably just from being mentally strung out right now. I think whether that could be a real long term solution would have to depend on the comfort level of both me and the missus (and probably our parents as well, all of whom do some caregiving of James from time to time) and getting some kind of professional consult from a behavioral specialist. I've thought about it, muzzle designs for me more long term use still let the dog drink water and breathe normally and so forth, so maybe.

I have a little experience with that (sort of). When I first moved in with the Boss, she had a dog who did not like me, presumably because I took her spot in bed. It was bad enough that the dog would growl and snap at me if I was within five feet, so the Boss invested in a muzzle. It worked but only in the most basic sense. She could still drink, but it was far from ideal and didn't make the dog feel any more comfortable. But it was a very basic muzzle and presumably there are better quality options available.

The other thought is whether there's any kind of medication that can pacify Lilly some. I'm reaching there, I know, but maybe a mild mood stabilizer would help.

[JennyB]

I'm so sorry, Kevin. What a tough situation. We actually had the same thing happen when VH, jr. was a baby with our dog Zoe - bit him in the face. But she was small and it was easy to keep them apart. I know your dog is bigger. Maybe since he's a senior dog the rescue will still take him back and take care of him?

[Sparky]

Oh man, so sorry to hear that, I'm glad your son is OK. That's a really hard decision to make, my family went through something similar with my childhood dog and my mom, very sad.

[Sparky]

I can relate to this one.

https://www.tiktok.com/@feraltofamous/v ... 0804852011

[Mimi]

I can relate to this one.

https://www.tiktok.com/@feraltofamous/v ... 0804852011

And I thought my Licorice was bad. 10 minute butt licking sesh

[Dr. Medulla]

I can relate to this one.

https://www.tiktok.com/@feraltofamous/v ... 0804852011

And I thought my Licorice was bad. 10 minute butt licking sesh

Worse when they surface for air with that glazed look in their eyes and their tongue to the roof of their mouth. Jesus Christ, cat, you look like a pervert!

[Dr. Medulla]

[Sparky]

Screenshot 2022-10-23 at 1.43.19 PM.jpeg

So true. We've always said that being a pet in our house is good work if you can get it.