OT - Off Topic General Chat

[gasp]

I seem to go OT a lot and started this thread for my OT replies. Maybe it will catch on and others will find it useful too.

[gasp]

Eh, I quit raising and showing dogs after 30 years, largely because of the puppy buyers. It got to be such a hassle to find good homes. Americans, for all the money they spend on their pets, are really not all that great as responsible pet owners.

I love watching the dog shows each season on TV and would love to have a dog again - hubby isn't a dog lover. We need an OT thread to jump to whenever we want to digress away from threads. Hummm, I'll start one and see how it goes.

[Slinky]

Shucks, I just thought this thread had something to do w/the Live Chats. That's why I didn't check it until I saw your post in the other thread, the thread we "highjacked".

[6PtStar]

Eh, I quit raising and showing dogs after 30 years, largely because of the puppy buyers. It got to be such a hassle to find good homes. Americans, for all the money they spend on their pets, are really not all that great as responsible pet owners.

They are not pets, just short people!
My family, His registration carries our family name:

His best bud:

Both of thems boss:


Don't have photos of the 2 Cockateils! but every one lives in harmony!

Better than a lot of people I know!
Don't tell us about not being responsible. My only fear is that I might not out live them!
Can't let your post die even if I did post on the other one!

Jerry

[pianomagoo]

Eh, I quit raising and showing dogs after 30 years, largely because of the puppy buyers. It got to be such a hassle to find good homes. Americans, for all the money they spend on their pets, are really not all that great as responsible pet owners.

They are not pets, just short people!
My family, His registration carries our family name:

His best bud:

Both of thems boss:


Don't have photos of the 2 Cockateils! but every one lives in harmony!

Better than a lot of people I know!
Don't tell us about not being responsible. My only fear is that I might not out live them!
Can't let your post die even if I did post on the other one!

Jerry

Jerry,

I was just curious where you bought your oximeter and is it the kind you can wear overnight and it will record on your data card and software? Is it pretty reliable and worth the cost?

Appreciate knowing,

Thanks,
Anne

[gasp]

Eh, I quit raising and showing dogs after 30 years, largely because of the puppy buyers. It got to be such a hassle to find good homes. Americans, for all the money they spend on their pets, are really not all that great as responsible pet owners.

They are not pets, just short people!
My family, His registration carries our family name:

His best bud:

Both of thems boss:


Don't have photos of the 2 Cockateils! but every one lives in harmony!

Better than a lot of people I know!
Don't tell us about not being responsible. My only fear is that I might not out live them!
Can't let your post die even if I did post on the other one!

Jerry

So absolutely gorgeous! All of them - except the birds which I can't see - they may be ugly : ) Nah, never saw an ugly Cockateil. I got a big chuckle out of the cat being the boss. Isn't that always the way. My theory about why some people don't like cats is because the person wants to be leader of their pack (pun intended) as it were and cats usually don't go for that.

The cats eyes have a blue halo. Along with his coloring and red name tag he is quite colorful.

All your pets look really healthy - you must be good pet parents!

My cat of 19 years died last year about a year ago and I feel blessed to have had her for so long. I agree with my hubby that dogs live a disappointingly short time.

[gasp]

Shucks, I just thought this thread had something to do w/the Live Chats. That's why I didn't check it until I saw your post in the other thread, the thread we "highjacked".

As much as we're on the forum, it is almost a live chat

[6PtStar]

pianomagoo, sent you a PM.

Gasp, Yes "Reload" the cat is approching 18 years and is Diabetic. Have to give him insulin when I take mine twice a day. Cat Insulin is different than people insulin and is $85 a bottle. Strain on a retired income but he is still worth it. The Cockateils are 19 and 20 years old. Only the Golden is a young man (turned 4 last month)! Lost my Pomeranan "Ted E. Bear" last year he was 15. Small dogs live almost as long as cats. Large dogs don't make it that long.

Jerry

[WearyOne]

.
6PtStar, BEAUTIFUL family members you have there!

Especially like the caption of the cat being the boss. A friend gave me a stack of post-its one time with this statement: "To the dog, you're a friend. To the cat, you're support staff." Love it! She has both cats and dogs; I have one cat (see avatar), but did have a dog and other cats years ago that have since passed away.



Pam

[Slinky]

My pets' pictures would take up too much band width (besides which I don't know how to scan and post them). We have 3 horses: a 27 year old red dun QH mare, a 7 year old red dun QH mare, a 12 year old red chestnut & white Paint gelding; 3 dogs, an sable 11 year old male Collie, the last of our line that we own, a 7 year old blue merle Shetland Sheepdog rescue, a black w/brindle Border Collie/Spaniel cross rescue and 7 cats. One of the cats is a feral tiger who lives in our garage and comes out only for my husband and I, a tiger "ghetto cat" from Detroit rescue, a smoke grey & white cat my granddaughter brought home from a horse farm's litter, a "medicine hat" white cat w/tiger who moved in to our garage and presented us w/a litter of kittens before we found her there and two of her "medicine hat" kittens now a little over a year old. All spayed and neutered, thank you. Except the two QH mares. You don't have to worry too much about stallions running loose around the neighborhood to breed any mares they can find. (Thank goodness! Surgery requiring anesthesia on a horse is neither cheap nor especially safe for them due to their weight!).

I guess we aren't the best of pet owners since our cats are all indoor/outdoor cats. Thank goodness we are out on 10 acres w/the house well back from the road and they've been content to stay close to home and away from the road!!! knock, Knock, KNOCK! Two of the cats, the Sheltie and the BC/Spaniel-mix "tag team" the moles that occasionally have the audacity (and stupidity) to invade our yard.

All live peacefully together except the doggone BC/Spaniel-mix who FINALLY has tested the Collie's good nature a shade too much so we occasionally have to get after them about some spat the mix decides to start. The Collie put up w/his obnoxious personality for two years before he finally had enough. No more turning his shoulder to that little PITA on occasion now. He knows its wrong and he TRIES to tolerate the little brat but sometimes .... I don't blame him in the least.

[packitin]

Hey, 6Ptstar, when I saw your 3rd pic, I thought we were back on the Wilford Brimley thread again. (but it looks like a great cat)
Jay

[gasp]

My pets' pictures would take up too much band width (besides which I don't know how to scan and post them). We have 3 horses: a 27 year old red dun QH mare, a 7 year old red dun QH mare, a 12 year old red chestnut & white Paint gelding; 3 dogs, an sable 11 year old male Collie, the last of our line that we own, a 7 year old blue merle Shetland Sheepdog rescue, a black w/brindle Border Collie/Spaniel cross rescue and 7 cats. One of the cats is a feral tiger who lives in our garage and comes out only for my husband and I, a tiger "ghetto cat" from Detroit rescue, a smoke grey & white cat my granddaughter brought home from a horse farm's litter, a "medicine hat" white cat w/tiger who moved in to our garage and presented us w/a litter of kittens before we found her there and two of her "medicine hat" kittens now a little over a year old. All spayed and neutered, thank you. Except the two QH mares. You don't have to worry too much about stallions running loose around the neighborhood to breed any mares they can find. (Thank goodness! Surgery requiring anesthesia on a horse is neither cheap nor especially safe for them due to their weight!).

I guess we aren't the best of pet owners since our cats are all indoor/outdoor cats. Thank goodness we are out on 10 acres w/the house well back from the road and they've been content to stay close to home and away from the road!!! knock, Knock, KNOCK! Two of the cats, the Sheltie and the BC/Spaniel-mix "tag team" the moles that occasionally have the audacity (and stupidity) to invade our yard.

All live peacefully together except the doggone BC/Spaniel-mix who FINALLY has tested the Collie's good nature a shade too much so we occasionally have to get after them about some spat the mix decides to start. The Collie put up w/his obnoxious personality for two years before he finally had enough. No more turning his shoulder to that little PITA on occasion now. He knows its wrong and he TRIES to tolerate the little brat but sometimes .... I don't blame him in the least.

I, no we (hubby and I) enjoyed your story. Yesterday we went and watched a herding dog show. I'm still trying to warm him up to getting a dog. It's amazing how much just herding instinct with no training (like the 4 month old Border collie)can allow a young dog to herd sheep. The announcer said untrained will nip at heels of sheep whereas trained will not. We learned about a dog having 'eye' and saw how some breeds use it more than others - eye being how the dog trains their eye on the animal being herded. Ducks being herded seem much less intimidated when herded with dogs that use a lot of eye - they just watch and go in the desired direction. Ducks flap and quack, seeming more distressed when herded by dogs that use more physical presence.

Your dogs that have taken up mole duty are seriously valuable. Moles are such a pest. When we had ducks, we didn't have moles. It seems the free roaming ducks eat the insects that attract the moles. We have very few spiders, termites, or other insects during the time we raised ducks too!

Because we don't have dogs, we have regular families of deer that live on our land, that come through and eat the blackberries and graze in our yard (that is just a well kept pasture). Rarely do they eat my flowers, but a new fawn that showed particular bravery, came up on our front porch and took off every flower off my miniature rose plant. We didn't begrudge him this tasty snack as he was in his skinny phase, and gathering calories for the winter.

[gasp]

pianomagoo, sent you a PM.

Gasp, Yes "Reload" the cat is approching 18 years and is Diabetic. Have to give him insulin when I take mine twice a day. Cat Insulin is different than people insulin and is $85 a bottle. Strain on a retired income but he is still worth it. The Cockateils are 19 and 20 years old. Only the Golden is a young man (turned 4 last month)! Lost my Pomeranan "Ted E. Bear" last year he was 15. Small dogs live almost as long as cats. Large dogs don't make it that long.

Jerry

Wow - $85 a bottle. Such a good cat parent you are to do this. I couldn't believe my family saying we should just kill the cat instead of spending $2,000 treating it for thyroid disease. She lived many years after that and would have never made it to over 19 years otherwise! She was very healthy, just a bit of arthritis in her hip, until she died of kidney failure (even after being on expensive high protein prescribed food for years). She was loved well.

She was a spicey cat. This is one of our favorite pictures that shows her personality. She used to attack gift wrapping that then fight with it. She was 17 years old in this picture.