OT: Why do dogs..

[mgaggie]

A sighthound mix named Pencil that I used to have brought in a freshly killed cottontail through the dogie door to share with us my wife's shrieking brought this to my attention. Another time he brought in a vole that he had just caught. He came in and every time he would bite down I heard a squeak, I thought my wife had gotten him a new squeaky toy. When I went to him to see his new toy I noticed kicking feet. I was going to get him out into our courtyard so it wouldn't get loose in the house but he thought I was going to take it away so he swallowed it whole. The other dogs looked at him with seeming awe, kind of like, WOW Pencil eats Real food.

giggle, this reminds me of the time the cat brought a baby inside the house. The dogs told the cat to "nick off" and the rabbit managed to hide itself under the tv cabinet. Here I was the only one at home trying to move an 80kg tv to get rid of the blasted thing.

[mgaggie]

You think a mouse is gross?

When we lived on a farm we always had dogs that lived outside and we loved having them around when we were out working or fishing or just romping through the woods.

But I think it is absolutely gross to have a dog staying in the house. No nude animal that can't wipe its own butt and take its own shower is going to be in my clean house!

Nope mice aren't gross. Try the remains of a blue tongue lizard that had been buried for two weeks during summer, thats gross!

I think you are nuts that you won't let any dog inside. My dog is a wonderful companion (except when she's been 'hunting')

[Janknitz]

Why do dogs think it's a good idea to check out a skunk?

[racprops]

I live out west so when I had cats as a kid they would bring home Lizzers, snakes, horny toads, and once a Gila Monster...( reported as poison...) and your everyday bird and mouse and rats...

BUT how is all this fun OT??

Rich

[CowFish]

can't wipe its own butt

But they can.

That's what your Oriental rug is for.

No dogs are ever allowed in my house!

No shedding of hair, no dragging in animals and nothing on the rugs! Yechhh!

[49er]

I live out west so when I had cats as a kid they would bring home Lizzers, snakes, horny toads, and once a Gila Monster...( reported as poison...) and your everyday bird and mouse and rats...

BUT how is all this fun OT??

Rich

Hmm, the standard advice is to keep cats inside for their protection. But I think someone forgot that maybe the reason is to also protect humans like me who would freak out big time if I saw any of the above items.

49er

[Therapist]

Shame on everyone who propogates cats!

From the New York Times:

domestic cats in the United States kill 2.4 billion birds and 12.3 billion mammals a year

Those are BILLIONS people. Our beautiful songbird population has been decimated.

The article points out that cats rarely kill mammal pests like rats. Instead they kill native mammals like shrews, chipmunks and voles.

Shame on you! You scream bloody murder if an oil spill affects a few hundred birds while your kitties are responsible for billions of deaths annually.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/scien ... .html?_r=0

[Stormynights]

We don't have cats in the house but there are several feral cats here that we feed. It is a common occurrence to find a dead copperhead on the porch. I take this as a thank you for the food gesture.

[ughwhatname]

Shame on everyone who propogates cats!

From the New York Times:

domestic cats in the United States kill 2.4 billion birds and 12.3 billion mammals a year

Those are BILLIONS people. Our beautiful songbird population has been decimated.

The article points out that cats rarely kill mammal pests like rats. Instead they kill native mammals like shrews, chipmunks and voles.

Shame on you! You scream bloody murder if an oil spill affects a few hundred birds while your kitties are responsible for billions of deaths annually.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/scien ... .html?_r=0

I'm listening to several birds right now. There doesn't seem to be a lack of bird population here, even with the feral cat colony across the street from me.

Your quote is just a good argument for keeping cats indoors.

[Bonnie]

My dog's love affair with bunnies had him bring one in to the house without my seeing it it his mouth, He headed straight for my bed hiding it in his paws with his head over it. Unfortunately when I saw it and went to remove it, it was LOADED with fleas. The dogs went straight into my car, off to the do-it-yourself dog wash. A stop on the way home to pick up a couple of flea bombs (I am not big on chemicals but this was an exception.). Left the dogs in the car, went in and grabbed a few necessities, set of the bombs and stayed with friends for a few days. Left them there, came home and washed bedding, cleaned up and aired out the house. For weeks I imagined fleas crawling on me at night. Fortunately we never had them.

[BlackSpinner]

Shame on everyone who propogates cats!

From the New York Times:

domestic cats in the United States kill 2.4 billion birds and 12.3 billion mammals a year

Those are BILLIONS people. Our beautiful songbird population has been decimated.

The article points out that cats rarely kill mammal pests like rats. Instead they kill native mammals like shrews, chipmunks and voles.

Shame on you! You scream bloody murder if an oil spill affects a few hundred birds while your kitties are responsible for billions of deaths annually.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/scien ... .html?_r=0

This helps birds become more effective birds. You should be thankfull for that.

[SleepingBetty]

My dog's love affair with bunnies had him bring one in to the house without my seeing it it his mouth, He headed straight for my bed hiding it in his paws with his head over it. Unfortunately when I saw it and went to remove it, it was LOADED with fleas. The dogs went straight into my car, off to the do-it-yourself dog wash. A stop on the way home to pick up a couple of flea bombs (I am not big on chemicals but this was an exception.). Left the dogs in the car, went in and grabbed a few necessities, set of the bombs and stayed with friends for a few days. Left them there, came home and washed bedding, cleaned up and aired out the house. For weeks I imagined fleas crawling on me at night. Fortunately we never had them.

We had a big problem with fleas after getting new neighbors with two or three dogs. We had a dog, but never a flea problem until then. Our daughter has scars on her legs where she would get bit and just keep scratching until it bled and sometimes got infected. We didn't realize it was the fleas, at first. We thought it was mosquitoes. Then, I started getting bit and we figured out our daughter was having problems with the fleas which were especially bad in her room. I would walk in there and suddenly have fleas all over me! They probably got worse after we had to put our dog down and that could have been the result of the chemicals we used on her to control the fleas. I figure they were jumping on us instead of the dog! We tried sprays, bombs, everything. They would disappear for a few days, if that, and then they were just as bad as ever.

I searched the net for something more natural to use that would actually work and found it in cedar oil. I can't verify the results from any other brand, but we got ours from Cedar Oil Industries. I called and talked to "Dr. Ben". I didn't realize he was the one who developed the products until later, but he told me exactly what we needed to get, how much, how to use it, etc. We got what he suggested and my husband sprayed the whole house and the yard. Unfortunately, the exact instructions somehow got lost in translation and we had to do it again, but after the second application, we had no more fleas and haven't had a problem with them to this day. Our daughter's legs healed up and except for the occasional mosquito bite, she has very little trouble. We have had another dog for a little over a year now (my avatar) and he doesn't have a flea problem, even though we have the same neighbors with the same dogs. The cedar oil got rid of other creepy crawlies, too, but we've got some more, so we need to spray again, but still no fleas.

[Stormynights]

Years ago we had a camper that we took on vacation at the beginning of summer. It sat empty all summer and in the fall I went in to air it out. Just as I stepped inside my legs turned black with fleas. I have no idea how they could multiply like that with nothing to feed on but they did. I guess they came in during our vacation but we didn't know at the time. We had a little dog with us but she had frequent baths so we never noticed any fleas.

[allen476]

Those are BILLIONS people. Our beautiful songbird population has been decimated.

The article points out that cats rarely kill mammal pests like rats. Instead they kill native mammals like shrews, chipmunks and voles.

Shame on you! You scream bloody murder if an oil spill affects a few hundred birds while your kitties are responsible for billions of deaths annually.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/scien ... .html?_r=0

We have a feral cat colony in my neighborhood just to keep the rodents at bay. Once the SPCA picked up the cats because my idiot neighbor complained that the cats were doing their business under his porch. It only took 2 DAYS before I had a bad mice problem in my workshop.

The neighbors all said that the mice were becoming a problem. We all complained and the cats were brought back. Problem solved.

We now have resident blue jays, cardinals, and woodpeckers. Something we haven't had in years. Also yesterday I saw for the first time here, a chipmunk.

My 2 cats would run and hide if they saw a mouse. More likely they would be like the cartoon woman dancing on a chair while screaming.

(Insert visions of Tom and Jerry cartoons)

[chunkyfrog]

My son installed a network of fishlines over the yard, so the feral kittens could have a chance against the hawks and eagles
that were hunting for a snack just that size. Some of those "beautiful songbirds" are hungry raptors!