I have a 3 month old Rottweiler and she’s the first dog I’ve had who has long shaggy hair what are some routines I can do to make sure her coat stays nice and healthy it can’t be much different then hair care for humans just with products for animals right?

I can’t believe how many people actually recommend diacemetous earth as a flea treatment for the home. Don’t any of y’all enjoy the feeling of a clean home?

I bought food grade diacemetous earth (not the cheap stuff either) at the recommendation of Redditors, sprinkled it all throughout my rugs and bed frame. Holy shit. It was an absolute pain to vacuum up, first of all. And has left everything feeling sticky, discolored and somehow still coated in residue. Tomorrow I’m gonna drop a few hundred on a steam cleaner to try to get this icky sticky off.

So, I DO NOT recommend diacemetous earth unless you enjoy the feeling of sticky powder all throughout your home & hours of painful vacuuming. I wish I’d read a dissenting opinion like this before wasting my time & money.

Hello!

I have had puppies before in the past and have never ran into this problem.

I have a three month old basset hound that stays home while I work. He has the kitchen space for himself and I set down potty pads, leave him toys, water, his food etc. Since I have been keeping him in there, he has played, ate, and messed with his feces. I come home and its like he's painted the floors with feces. Other dogs I have had in the past poop and leave it alone. I have also had a dog once where I left them crated while I went to work - but they were only alone for four hours max. Now I am at work 8 hours.

What should I do? I don't want to crate him but I feel like that is the best option right now. He knows to potty on his pads, he just plays with his poop and thats the problem!

**Nice advice would be appreciated**

My cats are outdoor and we recently left for 5 days in vacation. We had our neighbors taking care of them but the day we got back there was no sign of them. Now after 3 days the mother cat has come back but the kitten who is 15 weeks is no where to be seen. We live near a forest so our cats frequently go hunting but they don’t last this long normally. It was also raining for the past 2 days if that has any correlation. Any tips to get him back or know what happened?

So i live in a studio, nowhere for me to lock my cats up. I just got an email saying that maintenance will have to come into my apartment during a time im not home. I usually head to work around 6:30 and the worker is supposed to be coming in at 8. My cats are not mean or anything but it does say that they will either need to be removed or put away and since i will not be able to be home im wondering what I can do.

Theyre not crate trained, they'll likely be meowing a lot. The other option is to take them to my moms place but shes an hour commute from me so i wouldnt want to do that unless i really had to.

I'm prepared to get roasted for what I'm about to post, but I am really struggling with my new kitten after 3 weeks.

She is an amazing kitten who loves to play, loves sleeping in my bed or on my belongings, and is incredibly friendly with literally everyone. From the moment I brought her home, she was immediately comfortable - there was almost no adjustment period. My issues have nothing to do with her behavior or personality - it's all just me. I don't feel anything towards this cat, and if anything, my annoyance with having to take care of her is growing with time, not lessening.

As a first time pet owner, I did months of research and prepared my house with multiple scratching posts, trees, beds, toys, a litter robot, her preferred food, treats, etc. I live in an apartment but there are large windows with substantial window sills for her to sit on.

I work from home and try to give her 30 minutes of play in the morning, 10-15 around midday, and 15-30 in the evening, alongside cuddles and pets throughout the day.Essentially, I've tried to prepare my home as much as possible and give myself MANY opportunities to bond with this kitten, but I just feel nothing.

For context, I have depression and anxiety, and am dealing with a lot of very serious life *things* right now. I thought I was ready for this type of commitment and would be able to provide a safe and caring environment, but instead my anxiety levels are spiraling and this simply feels like another thing I'm going to fail at.

I just started therapy (unrelated to the cat) and when I told my therapist this story about the kitten, her response was basically: "you tried, but it might not be for you."I hate quitting things.

I hate failing at things. I generally make it a point of not doing things I'm bad at, and if it turns out I am bad at it, I work until I fix it. But I also know my mental health is already on the edge and this is a living, breathing, loving thing who should be loved by their caretaker, and I don't think I know how to do that.

Has anyone been in this situation? If so, what did you do? I've been reading similar posts and know the general vibe of the comments but I'm just looking for an honest assessment of where I'm at.

I've talked to friends who all sort of understand but also all say "it'll get better" and this may be the depression speaking, but I don't really see myself as a person who is emotionally prepared to love unconditionally and I don't think that's going to be something I can overcome without many more years of therapy.

Just for reference, she's a 5 month old blue bicolor ragdoll kitten - she will find a new home through the breeder with absolutely no issue.

The breeder we are working with just got a cat wheel, and I think it's fascinating. The dogs are smaller and seem to like it once trained. I have mobility issues and have had dogs in the past with LOTS of energy spurts, and wonder if this is worth trying out.

Does anyone with small dogs have a "cat wheel," and if so how do you like it? I would train with treats and praise, not just let it sit there and hope they use it. Seems like training to use it is a must. Thanks!

When I get back from walking my dog, I feed her. She knows it's food time when we get back inside, so she jumps around all excited. I tell her to, "Go bedroom," which is where her food bowl is. She does, and then she lies down. I put her food in the bowl, and she waits for me to say "OK" before she eats. I think it's adorable.

We have a 1.5 year old cat who has recently started throwing up. He had only thrown up a couple times due to hairballs, each of these times it has been food.

He has thrown up 5 times over the past two weeks. 4 times late at night, once during day. He is on a mix of soft and hard food but since he started throwing up, does not like the soft food as much anymore.

We have not immediately taken him to the vet due to his personality not changing. He is often running around, playful every night and does not act sick or extra sleepy (signs something isn’t okay).

I have noticed him sneezing more too in addition to the throwing up.

Only extra note I can think of is that he caught and killed two lizards. He has does this often though. I bought treats designed for reducing hairballs but that has not done anything it seems.

What should we do? If we take him to vet, what are expected likely costs in this situation?

This might sound silly, but I worry a lot about my cats as they’re my family. Anywho, my cat got into a rotisserie chicken that was sitting on the counter after I’d already taken a lot of the meat out for dinner. I was eating and heard my cat on the counter, got up and she was eating it. I have heard so many stories of animals eating bones that puncture their internal organs. Does anyone know if this could happen with the rotisserie chicken? And if she did swallow a bone would she have made a noise or something?

Edit: the skin of the chicken was mostly off due to me tearing it up to shred it for dinner. I saw no visible bite marks on any of the chicken or legs of it so she didn’t tear it up or anything. Not sure if this helps but it was one of the traditional chickens they sell at Walmart, I’m not sure what they all use for that so. Regardless I’ll be monitoring her for a few days.

My Himalayan cat Ellie had a litter of 7 and she killed 2 while I was in the shower. I have to hold her to the ground just to feed the kittens and she refuses to clean them. Please someone help me.

EDIT; I misunderstood my dad, I’m getting a 120 Gal. I fixed the size in the rest of the post, I can’t edit the title.

I plan on getting a 120 Gal. Tank and wanna know any animals I can put into it. I don’t mind if it’s furry, scaley, or whatever. I wanna be able to handle it and have it something that’s entertaining to watch. I’m thinking about a gecko of some kind or maybe mice, but I’m curious on any animals others suggest. I live in Missouri, so it’s have to be legal to me, I’m not super into fish, simply because I don’t like the ones at the store around me and I’m afraid to buy any water reliant animal that has to be shipped. Thank you!

I have a Russian Blue, Ashes, who my husband and I adopted 7 years ago. She’s about 9 years old and though we adopted her from a shelter she’s definitely a russian blue in features and personality. She is by far the sweetest cat I’ve ever knows, but also is extremely sensitive. Although she has lived with us for nearly all her life, we still have to spend about 20 minutes coaxing her to sit with us - she will sit far away and stare longingly, then pace around and get a little closer, starts over until she is finally on someone’s lap. 3 years ago we adopted a second cat, Ginger, who is a mixed orange tabby and about 2x Ashes size, although she is only 4 years old. The problem is Ashes HATES Ginger. At first, Ashes wouldn’t even rest because Ginger was in the house. She would sit and glare at her. Then we moved and it got a little better as we have a larger house now and they have more room to spend apart. Ashes will hiss at Ginger and freak out if Ginger is in the doorway of the room Ashes is trying to exit. If I pet Ginger, I can’t pet Ashes without washing my hands or Ashes will hiss, growl, and run away from me. We read that Russian Blues are very sensitive and like their own space and need to know they are safe. We dedicated one of the spare rooms in our house to Ashes by setting up a door stop that Ginger cannot fit through. That helped at first, but now Ashes spends a while in there seemingly afraid that Ginger is at the door. Ashes has good days too. There are plenty of times they will touch noses and be nice around each other. From what I can tell if food or treats are involved, things are just fine between the two of them. I play with them together and separately so that they have fair attention and chances to catch the toy/ have alone time. I’m getting stressed out that it’s been 3 years of this. I try to be patient and gently calm ashes by petting her alone and playing with her alone, but it seems to be getting worse some days. I don’t want to have to medicate my cat, but I’m thinking that is the next step. I want Ashes to be happy and healthy and feel safe. I love her, she’s my baby! I am concerned that I am not doing enough. Any advice, thoughts?

My dog requires prescription dog food and I can see the identical dog food is available at local Mexico Petco stores. In the USA a veterinarian prescription is required to purchase the food. Does Mexico have the same restrictions?

Last year I adopted a senior ragdoll cat (9y/o). I usually adopt senior animals because I believe they deserve the same opportunities to grow old in a loving home as younger pets.

However, this particular pet requires a lot more attention than I was expecting because when she goes #2 the way she sits to do it makes it go all up and down her butt.

I’ve done sanitary trims on her, and even with the lack of hair back there she still manages to cover her butt in …. Well yea. I always keep pet wipes or baby wipes by her litter box because I have to wipe for her, otherwise it accumulates and she’ll just walk around with it all over her back side. She doesn’t groom herself well at all and not often either.

Whenever she sits on anything if I haven’t caught her fresh out of the litter box to wipe then it gets butt juice all over the floors. I have to bathe her bi-weekly because she’ll lay on the floors full of her butt stuff and becomes incredibly stinky. I’m having to mop the floors a lot more than usual to combat her sitting anywhere.

Thankfully she’s too large to jump on counters, but she does like to sit and lay on soft things, as a cat would, and I’d like to be able to decorate, but I know as soon as I get a nice rug or anything it won’t even last a day.

I think I bit off more than I can chew with this one, but I feel extremely guilty about the possibility of giving her to another home because I don’t want to traumatize her. I don’t believe in giving up on pets, once you commit I’ve always been an advocate for seeing it through… however, I don’t know what to do.

I’m in school and got a cat because they’re typically low maintenance outside of regular brushing and grooming. I’ve grown up with cats and I’ve had one of my own for years before this one. However, with me being in school and renting I can’t have her messing up these apartments, it costs and it costs A LOT.

I’m really unsure of what to do?

My family and I have been thinking about which pet to get, and this thought crossed my mind today. Which pets can actually serve a role in the everyday family?

In this case, I'm not asking about emotional support or specially trained animals. I'm simply asking which pets may be able to fill a practical role at home.

For example, certain breeds of dog are well-known as "protectors". Horses would certainly have a big contribution too, although I doubt many "everyday" families could own one. Still, there must be lots of other animals I'm not thinking of. Perhaps there are birds or reptiles that eat common food scraps. Or maybe there's an amphibian that could cut down on the insects flying around.

What do you all think? Which pets could also serve a practical purpose for the average family?

I recently moved out of my parents place a little over a month ago to work on myself and live the city life for a while. Now I’m staying at this pretty nice studio apartment and I’m pretty much moved in.

Again I’m also working on myself and trying to ease the anxiety issues that I have. I already signed up for therapy, but I also thought about getting a pet.

I grew up in a very strict dog only household because my mom HATED cats. Now that I’m on my own, I think I would like to try new things and actually have a pet of my own with no restrictions. I thought about a kitten or a cat because those wouldn’t be too bad for an apartment, right?

TLDR: thinking of getting a cat, but grew up a dog person and I’d like to hear a few opinions on this. Trying to focus on mental health and having a companion since I live alone. Also live in a nice studio apartment in the city.

Edit: My apartment does allow pets. It even has its own grooming station downstairs. Also live in front of a park.

Edit 2: hey, sorry I forgot to mention that I will be traveling like 4 times a year across the US (east to west). Not sure how a cat would handle something like this.

Also thanks for the comments already here!

My dumba------ of a dog sleeps like this. Does anyone have a pet that does this?????

I love him to pieces but he hates my dogs (after VERY slow, positive reward based introductions) and cannot live peacefully with them. He weighs twice as much as both of them and has scratched and tried to attack them. He cannot sleep in the bedroom because he constantly wakes me up and when hes in the living room he wakes me up by constantly meowing. He has recently started biting and scratching for attention if I am not paying him any mind (doing school work or work). He kicks his litter everywhere. I dont think hes happy here because he only has the bedroom, bathroom, and closet because he attacks the dogs and is not allowed in the living room if they are out. My dogs are not getting adequate me time and neither is he due to this and I live in a 700 square foot apartment. I got him from my job, but dont want to have to return him, I am just at my wits end. Hes 3 years old and Ive had him for 2 and a half months

I have two 4 and a half month old kittens, both are male and recently I’m having a problem where they are both persistent in waking me up at around 3:30 AM every morning for food even though they never get fed until 4:50 or 5 AM from my partner before work. We have tried closing the bedroom door, which they only scratch underneath it and shake the door loudly to wake us up.

During meal time the one boy if you crouch to the ground to put his food down he jumps into the plate and will latch on to whatever it is holding it. I know he’s probably ensuring he gets to eat, however it doesn’t make sense to me. They both are fed three times a day, each get a 3 oz can of wet food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and during their lunch and dinner they get a few pieces of freeze dried food as well. How can I fix this behavior? Is there any way to fix it?

I will start this off by saying, my tolerance is high. I am an owner who has accepted cats over having nice furniture, they rip my sofa apart and I’m not phased by this. I’m not phased by them on my kitchen counter. They pretty much own the house. Whatever, I love cats.

I’ve had 2 cats for 7 years. 7 years. In this time, I have one angel of a cat who I love probably more than anything or anyone in the world, I often get upset just thinking about life without her (dread when the day comes). I have another cat who has been the cause of me having to buy a new bed (this was a couple years in as he urinated on it so much it was in bits, he would literally climb into the bed and urinate on it whilst I WAS IN THERE). He is and was neutered. I stopped allowing him in there. After this, he started urinating on my sofa. Which isn’t even washable, so I have spent many days being unable to relax and even use a sofa, as I have to strip it and soak the cushion in various concoctions to try and get rid of the awful smell, it is screwed anyway. I can’t afford a new sofa.

After a long while of this, I have taken to just putting him in the (large) kitchen whilst I am not actively using the sofa as it was sending me into a nervous breakdown coming home to cat urine on the one place I can relax regularly. There is nothing too soft in there that he can urinate on. So instead, he just defecates on the wicker rug in there. Pretty much daily. He has a tray in there, pretty much doesn’t matter how clean it is, I pick up his poo from the rug every single morning. There is nothing medically wrong with him. It’s been 7 damn years of this, he’s ruined a sofa, a bed, and I am just so so so so so sick of it. Truly. I love my other cat so much, but this one just seems to add constant stress to my life. Please can I have some advice. I’ve got so close to giving him up throughout the sofa situation and it’s like I can’t do it, but all he does is make me unhappy. What would you do? Any input appreciated.

At the beginning of 2020, my mom’s friend found a tiny 7 week old kitten and asked if I’d be willing to foster it. We bottle fed but he weaned quickly and although he was a little terror, he grew up to be a great cat and we couldn’t let him go.

A few months ago, my boyfriend was at work and found a kitten in the compactor of a garbage truck that was still alive. We brought him home with the intent of finding a new home but became attached. He was just fixed a week ago (4.5 months old) but he’s becoming increasingly aggressive with my other cat.

My older cat has also began showing signs of asthma since we brought the new kitten home. After 3 vet visits and thousands of dollars in testing, he now has to take a daily inhaler and suffers from asthma attacks a couple times a week. Vet thinks he’s allergic to the kitten.

To help raise morale, I recently purchased a cat tree and put it together tonight. Both cats absolutely love it. The problem is, my kitten attacked my older cat tonight when he saw him near the tree. This wasn’t aggressive play, it was an ears back, hair on end, claws out attack. My cat just ran away and hid and then had an asthma attack. Later he returned to th tree and the little one attacked again. I separated them into separate rooms but I can’t be in two places at once and feel immense guilt.

Is there any way to tame this kitten? I don’t want to rehome him but I also can’t have my cat suffer more than he already is with the asthma issues.

Advice would be so appreciated

Looking for advice... I have two rescue dogs, they came from the same ranch from a long ways away. One (female) is ballsy and brash and the other (male) is skittish and anxious by nature. Both around the age of 2... they love each other and balance each other out. My husband and I live on a street that is also occupied by an air force base, in which jets take off at any point in time (not really consistent). This isn't way down the street; they are a stone-throw from overhead. My male dog gets anxious/fearful when they take off, if he doesn't hide, he sits there and pants/ "smiles" (his goofy smile face has been determined to indicate anxiety) Aside from medications, does anyone have advice how to help my baby cope with the noise? Doc prescribed Sileo as needed for anxiety but I would prefer to not rely on the med, as doc said exposure and desensitizing is better than drugging, which I totally agree with

shes peed on things before tons before and weve ruled out anything medical weve taken her to the vet for it tons of times her kitten year was in a hoarders situation so its just a bad habit and weve been in a temp place for 2 months and she just peed on some boots and it smelled like nothing which ive heard can be a bad sign esp since it normally is the usual strong cat pee smell
should we be concerned?

I had my cat in to the vet about 3 or 4 days ago because she got outside, got into a cat fight and got bit. She was put on antibiotics and we were sent on our way. Tonight while I’m sitting here petting her, I notice a little scratch about half an inch long on her neck. It seems to be half way healed and half of it was ripped back open. Should I take her back in?

Ever since we got our family dog two years ago we've been using Burt's bees dog shampoo. Our dog has some already existing allergies and when we give him a bath he's always super itchy. Which makes me believe he has an allergic reaction to the shampoo. I want to get him a new shampoo but I don't know what is best. What's a good hypoallergenic shampoo for dogs???

Hello, I am a junior in my undergrad program at my college! A pet is currently not on the table for me due to housing rules and my own pets at home, but I plan to attend vet school in a couple of years. I really miss having pets, my family still does and I love visiting them whenever I’m home. Neither of them would do well in my current apartment, and my dog’s breed is banned here (Dalmatian). I know a dog is pretty much off the table due to time, living space, and my own dog being pretty dog aggressive. But what would be a good pet? I was considering a cat, but I’m not sure how my family cat would do with it whenever I come home for weekends or breaks. How much work is something like a rabbit, chinchilla, or rat(s)? I have helped take care of them for friends and in class, but never full time. Reptiles are also cool (especially snakes!) but I know getting the right setup for one can be a bit pricey when you’re just starting out.

This won’t be an issue for at least another year, but I’d love to see what y’all think so I can start doing a little research. Thanks for any suggestions and advice!

I teach middle school and I’m looking for a class pet thats low-maintenance. We had a betta fish (found her abandoned in a science classroom) but she only lived about a year. I’m a little worried about tank maintenance as testing and nitrogen cycles are a bit much.

Are there any suggestions for an animal that is low-maintenance enough that it’s either easy to take home over winter break or I don’t have to worry about feeding over winter break?

Looking for something that can live in a relatively small tank (30 gallons or less)

Some ideas I have are hermit crabs, betta fish, land snails, or anoles.